We all know about the dangerous effects of Methamphetamine, the powerful drug made from common chemicals that are available in nearly every drug or home repair store. Now teens can get high on an even more readably available household substance—mothballs.

A young woman was hospitalized in France with symptoms related to her mothball sniffing and chewing habit. She would spend 10 minutes each day breathing into a bag filled with mothballs. She would then chew half of a mothball. When she arrived at the hospital, she appeared unsteady and sluggish with scaly skin on her legs and hands. Doctors later determined that mothballs caused her ailments. She took six months to fully recover.

This problem is not yet thought to be widespread, as only three cases have been documented in medical journals. However, this is probably underreported. If student are found with mothballs, the TEAP specialist should determine whether they are abusing this common household substance and intervene.