An Australian school teacher is calling for the sale of deodorant cans to be restricted to stop kids from chroming.
Chroming is the dangerous act of inhaling an aerosol spray, usually containing solvents or other household chemicals, in order to get high - and it can have some serious consequences. It's also known as huffing, sniffing or rexing.
It's called chroming because it can cause the user to end up with chrome paint around their nose and mouth.
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The number of teenagers going to hospital due to adverse reactions related to the act has increased for the fifth straight year in Queensland.
There were 115 people attending Queensland hospitals 157 times due to chroming in the latest round of figures, with more than half of those being people under the age of 19.
Brisbane schoolteacher Majella Ritchie is calling for something to change so that kids can't get access to the aerosols that can get them high.
She's told the Courier Mail: "Firstly Rexona [needs] to change their ingredients to prevent the deodorants being used in a dangerous way.
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"Secondly, while the ingredients are being changed, retailers need to remove the items from their shelves and store them in a locked facility.
"Seeing young people begin to destroy their lives by turning to substances due to the lack of support absolutely breaks my heart.
"These are our future generations, and many people are quick to judge and label these children as a minority group that we need to disregard."
Deodorant cans are freely accessible in supermarkets, convenience stores and pharmacies, however it appears Ms Ritchie is keen on seeing a system that requires the product go behind the counter.
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Whether you'd have to get a shop assistant to unlock it for you or there would be age restrictions on their sale is unclear, but Ms Ritchie says we can't sit back and do nothing.
Some Queensland stores and supermarkets have already introduced measures like those aforementioned.
Queensland Children's Hospital Emergency Physician Dr Daniel Bodnar also told News Corp the impact chroming can have on a child's brain is incredible.
"It literally melts the special lining of the nerve cells in the brain which leads to major problems down the track like they can't think properly and their IQ goes down," he said.
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"The brain is very slow to heal and the idea is the more exposed to it the more likely long term damage will be done," he said.
"It's just horrible, you can actually see evidence of it on scans."
Featured Image Credit: ABCTopics: Australia