Teens in Warangal get ‘high’ on glue-sniffing

Parents a worried lot as the addiction is fast catching up among them in several mandals of Warangal Rural, Jangaon and other districts

Warangal: Glue-sniffing, a kind of addiction, seems to be fast catching up among several teenagers in some parts of erstwhile Warangal district, particularly in rural and tribal areas, leaving the parents a worried lot.

G Mahender Reddy, District Child Protection Officer (DCPO), Warangal Rural, told Telangana Today that teenaged boys were into glue-sniffing in several mandals of Warangal Rural, Jangaon and other districts, through ‘Maxo Bond,’ an adhesive used to stick leather, rubber, rexine and other plastic things to get a ‘high.’

He said they had got information about this new trend among schoolgoing children and youths in rural areas, particularly in tribal thandas, in Warangal Rural district.

“A 10th class student from Parkal town got addicted to the adhesive. We counselled him recently and found that several other adolescent children, his friends, were also using this glue that is available at a cheap rate in electrical shops to get a ‘high.’ A small tube of Maxo Bond is sold at Rs 10,” he said, adding that shopkeepers are not supposed to sell the adhesive to persons aged below 18 years. “But they are selling the adhesive to children who either burn the substance and inhale the fumes or squeeze it out into a small bag and sniff it,” Mahender Reddy said, adding “I met Excise CI Jagannatha Rao and urged him to take steps to check sale of adhesives to children as it was causing health problems to them.”

Sources said that another adhesive, Fevibond, was also being used by youngsters and teenagers for sniffing. “Earlier, children used to sniff whitener to get a ‘kick.’ They are now using these glues besides consuming banned tobacco products like gutka and ambar in many tribal thandas,” said Dr Bhukya Devender, an assistant professor and himself a tribal hailing from Chandru Thanda gram panchayat in Wardhannapet mandal of Warangal Rural district. Illegal sale of gutka is also rampant in erstwhile Warangal district despite regular crackdowns by the police.

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