Graham Tanner lost his son to solvent abuse. He now campaigns to make manufacturers adopt alternatives to lethal gasses and solvents
Every day without my son Jason is like a nightmare from which I never wake. Sunday July 22 keeps playing over in my head again and again as I vainly try and figure what I could’ve done different. They all tell me – counsellors, doctors, friends, family – that guilt is natural. But it’s the pain which makes his passing so unbearable, even five years on.
Jason was 15 when he died. He was abusing solvents and we had no idea. It wasn’t a regular occurrence; Jason and his friends had all tried inhaling lighter gas before but he took a stroke which led to a brain haemorrhage.
He died in hospital a few hours after taking the gas. The doctors said anyone abusing solvents can quite easily and instantly die. It’s not always fatal: many young people take strokes from which they never recover and will remain disabled for life. All for a quick, pointless hit.
Losing a child is effectively the end of your life. Jason and his brother Liam were very close. His passing has affected us all. We’ve all become different people with his mum, from whom I am divorced, taking it as badly as myself and Liam.
The pain and grief would have killed me if I didn’t decide to make Jason’s passing into a campaign in his memory. In those early days back in 2012, it took up all my time. I left my job as an offshore engineer in Norway and put all my efforts into raising awareness of volatile solvent abuse.
Solvent abuse in Scotland remains an issue because it’s a predominantly lower-class problem. It is very much linked to deprivation and Scotland, especially Glasgow, has big issues around poverty meaning that solvent abuse, although not widespread, still persists at unacceptable levels.
What drives an apparently happy, healthy adolescent to abuse substances? Peer pressure, boredom, low self-esteem problems at school or home, anything really. One key factor is that the means of getting high are legal, cheap and easily available. Most homes have 50 aerosols or other means of VSA – everything from nail varnish remover to liquid paper. Used safely they're fine, but they can be lethal."
Because it is so dangerous, it is not acceptable to even try solvents. It’s not the same thing as cannabis or even Class A. You won’t die from a hit from a joint and solvent abuse is even far more dangerous than injecting heroin. Volatile substance abuse (VSA) kills more children aged 10 to 15 than all illegal drugs put together. And more than a third of VSA deaths are first-time users.
When I started the campaign, my focus was on decision makers and manufacturers. That still remains. We have had both highs and lows. Sadly solvent abuse is seen as a “retro” issue. Politicians aren’t too interested as they see newer forms of substance abuse as more worthy.
More than a third of deaths are first-time users
Our biggest achievement has been in persuading manufacturers to acknowledge that solvent abuse can kill. We spoke to some of the biggest companies like Proctor and Gamble and they were excellent. They told us their strategy to combat harmful CFCs had already made many types of solvent harmless as the gas used to propel products, such as butane, had been replaced with inert versions.
In March I’m travelling to Brussels to meet bosses at Colgate-Palmolive. Armed with research about how volatile solvent abuse is on the rise in North America, I’m hopeful I can persuade them to develop more non-harmful accelerants with a vision to eradicate them totally by 2023.
It’s been a long, slow process and I won’t give up. Other parents would do the same. A lot has been achieved in the last few years with many lives saves. We owe it to our children to win this one.
