FL MORRIS / FMORRIS@STARBULLETIN.COM Catherine MacIntyre and Neil Rosenberg are executive director and founder, respectively, of the International Institute for Inhalant Abuse.

Neurologist sounds
alarm on inhalants

The visiting specialist on drug
abuse warns of mental impairment

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By Helen Altonn
haltonn@starbulletin.com

A neurologist recognized internationally for research on the effects of chemicals and drugs on the brain says he expects to see increased neurological damage because of drug use.

"I really worry down the road what we're going to be facing in our population," said Dr. Neil Rosenberg, University of Colorado clinical professor of medicine, holistic doctor and founder of the International Institute on Inhalant Abuse.

Hawaii is considered the "crystal methamphetamine (ice) capital" of the nation, and Rosenberg said, "Methamphetamine is going to be one of the culprits."

He predicts a lot more brain injury among kids using methamphetamines. "Next to inhalants, stimulants are more damaging than other substance abuse -- that is, if it doesn't cause something catastrophic, like stroke or effects on the heart."

Rosenberg and his wife, Catherine MacIntyre, who directs their institute, are attending the American Academy of Neurology's annual meeting at the Hawai'i Convention Center.

One of his big fears is a huge increase in people with dementia at earlier ages because of chronic drug use, he said in an interview.

People may seem OK after five or six years of drug abuse, he said, "but as they get older and the nervous system starts to age, they're going to have less reserve than others."

Rosenberg said he was the only one studying harmful effects of inhalants when he began his research 20 years ago. Consequently, the National Institutes of Health began directing all calls about inhalant abuse to him.

He received an NIH research grant and in 1991 founded the institute primarily to do prevention and education.

In the 1980s, abuse of inhalants -- paints, glues, thinners, aerosols and other industrial chemicals -- was rising by 1 percent a year while use of other drugs was declining, he said.

Inhalants are "truly a gateway drug," often starting with kids 8 or 9 years old, Rosenberg said. "The tragic thing is, the first time often is the last time," and if they survive, most move on to other drugs, he said.

Rosenberg and his wife got a team together and traveled throughout the United States and Central and South America, educating people about the dangers of inhaling chemicals.

He said Latin America has about 50 million street kids, and a huge percentage of them abuse inhalants. "Guys who sell glue make a good living. They steal a big tub of glue and dole it out in baby food jars."

The couple has a home high up in the Andes and does extensive humanitarian work with poor people in Peru and other countries in the lower Americas.

Meanwhile, they continue to lecture and give out information on the dangers of drug abuse. A prolific author and popular speaker, Rosenberg has received many honors and awards and been featured on many TV news shows.

He said many inhalant abusers are switching to stimulants, and the institute has expanded to deal with effects on the brain. He works with law enforcement agencies because of drug-related aggression and violence.

"We talk about dose response or relationship," he said, describing a model he developed to explain violence based on toxicological principles. "The same works with the mind. ... All the time the mind is dosing thought with obtaining, using and experiencing the drug."

A person free of drugs for many years may hear in his or her head a song that was played the first time he or she got high and get a craving without knowing why, he said. "The brain is a receptor of information that affects behavior."

An aggressive or violent person goes through the same thing as a drug abuser, he said. "Angry thought is like chemical dosage to the mind. They go out ready for something to happen."

Military personnel have experienced for 200 years what is now known as post-traumatic stress disorder in response to war and violence, he said. "They're being dosed."

People will return from the Iraq war affected by what will probably be called Gulf War syndrome II, Rosenberg said. Those watching violence in the media also may develop severe symptoms, but "the dose can be overcome with resilience," he said.

He said the dose could be from a single episode, like a war experience, or something like the holocaust in World War II with recurring nightmares that "keep dosing ... like having a drug effect."

Playing violent video games for hours each day also has a dosing effect, whether negatively affecting schoolwork or leading to incidents such as the 1999 shooting massacre by two seniors at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo., Rosenberg said.

"From a bigger perspective, all these things are like drugs. They're working through the mind."