A Paoli man was arrested after he was found passed out in the Bedford Wal-Mart parking lot.
According to Bedford Assistant Police Chief Joe DeWees, officers were called to the Walmart parking lot at 8:24 a.m.
They found 38-year-old Thomas Moore Jr. laying in the seat with a can of air duster on his chest.
When officers arrived the found “Officer knocked on the windows several times to get Mr. Moore to responded and he wouldn’t,” DeWees says. “They then found that the passenger side door was unlocked and were able to rouse Mr. Moore and help him out of the truck.”
Officers discovered more than 8 cans of air duster in the floor board of the truck.
“Some of them were empty and some partially emptied,” DeWees added.
Moore was arrested on a charge of inhaling a toxic vapor.
DeWeese says they are seeing more and more of this type of arrest because he believes it is easier to get.
“I seems that more and more people are doing it,” he added. “I am not sure why… this contains dangerous vapors. But anyone over the age of 18-years-old can purchase it making it easier to get.”
Here are some statistics from www.inhalant.org:
- Over 2.6 million children, aged 12 to 17 uses an inhalant, Air Duster, each year to get high.
- “Air Duster” contains a propellant. It’s a refrigerant like what is used in your refrigerator. When you inhale it, it fills up your lungs and keeps the good air with oxygen out. It decreases the oxygen to your brain, to your heart. It kills you.
- One in four students in America has intentionally abused the common household product, Air Duster, to get high by the time they reach eighth grade.
- Inhalants tend to be the drug that is tried first by children.
- “Sniffing” and “huffing” can begin at age 10 or younger.
- Fifty-nine percent of children are aware of friends huffing at age 12.
- Inhalants are the fourth most-abused substance after alcohol, tobacco and marijuana.
- The number of lives claimed by inhalant abuse each year is unknown because these deaths often are attributed to other causes.
