Fact Sheets

Fact Sheet on Glue Sniffing Among Street Children in Nepal

• According to CWIN estimation there are 5000 street children in Nepal and around 400 - 600 are based in the Kathmandu Valley.
  
• CWIN Research on Alcohol and Drug Use among Street Children in Nepal, 2001 has shown that between 25 and 90 per cent of street children use substance of one kind or other.
  
• Glue sniffing is relatively new trend in Nepal. It is fast becoming an addiction among street children in Kathmandu. The current prevalent of glue sniffing is 51.7% among street children in the Kathmandu Valley. 19.7% have started using glue two years ago, 34.4 % started a year ago and 27.9% started just few months back.
  
• Glue sniffing is taken as a 'debut' drug by street children. Mostly street children begin drug-taking by glue sniffing and end up on other, more hard-core, drugs.
  
• Street children, who do not even smoke or drink alcohol often sniff glue.
  
• In general, the main short-term effects reported by the responding children were hallucinations. Its ill effects have resulted in problematic behavior, self-destruction due to hallucinations and fighting amongst friends.
  
• The reasons given by the users for sniffing were low self-esteem, an inferiority complex and having enough pocket money to buy this substance.
  
• Children also use glue because it is cheap and easily available.
  
• Most of the harmful effects of Glue Sniffing are found to be related to the brain and the Nervous System. 63.9 % have reported one or other kind of illness as long term effects of glue sniffing.
  
• Even among non-users almost all the children knew about glue sniffing. In the group of non-users a majority (85%) have seen their friends sniffing glue.
  
• Glue sniffing can be termed as 'group activity' among street children. 95.1% children use glue with friends. 77% use glue in peer influence and 60.7% children sniff glue daily.
  

Source: CWIN Survey on Glue Sniffing Among Street Children in the Kathmandu Valley, 2002