Inhalants: The Toxic High

The use of inhalants for inducing intoxication is an old practice. Many ancient cultures attempted to predict the future by having soothsayers sit over fissures in the earth from which escaped natural gases. As they inhaled these fumes, and stupor developed, the intoxicated soothsayers were supposed to foretell the future.

Although there is evidence that inhalation of intoxicating vapors was part of several ancient cultures, the use of "inhalants" in modern American society took root during ...