By Jesse Dorsett.
A 12-year-old boy has died in Alice Springs after police suspected he sniffed at least two cans of deodorant with a group of teenagers.
Northern Territory Police superintendent Bob Harrison said the boy was found unconscious by an officer at the Coles shopping complex in the town about 8:15pm on Saturday night.
The boy was believed to have been sniffing deodorant on Billy Goat Hill. Image: ABC.
“His attention was directed towards a person collapsed near the Discount Chemist,” he said.
“He checked for vital signs. Finding none, he commenced CPR.
“[Paramedics] conveyed the young fellow to hospital but unfortunately he passed away.”
Police believed the boy had consumed “a couple of cans” of deodorant earlier that night at Billy Goat Hill, a notorious sniffing spot in the centre of the town.
“We received information from a security guard that they’d spotted about eight young people sniffing cans near the hill,” Superintendent Harrison said.
“Unfortunately without pre-empting the coroner’s findings and the autopsy we believe this contributed to the death of this 12-year-old.”
Superintendent Harrison said sniffing deaths were incredibly rare.
“Going back through my memory I can’t recall another [death] in relation to aerosol cans,” he said.
“Yes it is [prevalent] in the centre of Australia but I can’t think myself of a previous death.”
Police were interviewing witnesses and scouring the site for evidence.
“I believe we found a number of cans there so they’ve been exhibited and will form part of the evidence base,” Superintendent Harrison said.
Chroming prevalent in Alice Springs: youth worker
“They’re influencing other kids and it just becomes what they do”.
Young people are pressuring others to sniff sprays such as deodorant, according to Tristan Ray from the Central Australian Youth Link-Up Service.
“You see one or two kids [sniffing] but then suddenly they’re influencing other kids and it just becomes what they do when they’re together,” he said.
“They do it because they’re trying to have fun.
“Some young people do it because they’re hungry, when you sniff it you can feel better.
“And others have just got enormous issues in their lives and they want to get out of it anyway they can.”
Mr Ray said the prevalence of chroming had increased because young people were bored at night.
“About two years ago there were four or five good night-time youth programs that were diverting young people, keeping them busy, giving them help if they need it and intervening when they were doing unsafe things,” he said.
“But we haven’t had those youth services for most of the last 18 months and we really have noticed that that sniffing has taken off in that time.
“It’s a very dangerous practice and this is the kind of outcome that we all dread.”
This article originally appeared on ABC News and is republished here with permission.
Top Comments
I didn't read anything about an 'indigenous' kid. For 99.9% of people who don't live in Alice Springs wouldn't know or assume this person is indigenous reading the article. I only knew this by reading Kate's comments. People die everyday from self induced drugs, so its good they have put this one to the media at all to make other kids who are sniffing, stop. The parents should be supervising their kids outside of school. A real shame any way you look at it. I'm sure if he's parents put him in a high regarded school, threw money at the media & wrote a book about their son, they would get similar attention. This is how the world as we know it. Take care of your children would be the message here. Xx
Why are there only seven comments? Is it because this child is (presumably) indigenous? Imagine the outrage if this boy was from Sydney's North Shore. We would be hearing about it night and day, politicians involved, t-shirts made, badges worn, support groups started, fundraising by celebrities going on. But no. Does anyone give a rats? Doesn't appear they do.
Drugs are drugs. Just because he wasn't Anna Woods doesn't make his life any less important or significant.
I think it's probably because there's not much to say. It's not like there's going to be debate on this, doesn't matter if the kid is white or Indigenous or African or whatever, it's a tragic situation that people aren't clear on how to prevent, I know I'm not.
There's not much to say *because* he's indigenous. Explain to me then why everyone had something to say when Anna Woods died? And Georgina Bartter?
Because everyone knows chroming is dangerous. What else is there to say?
It's such a political / racial minefield that people are nervous about saying the wrong thing, it's not that they don't care. I care just as much about Indigenous kids as I do about Caucasian ones, but when you get into these discussions people are so keen to jump down your throat and suggest that you're racist that people naturally find it easier to stay out of it for fear of being labelled something that they're not.