Solvent abuse is still with us and the potential for a young life to be lost remains just as scary today as it always has done

Detective Inspector Alan Small

"Cocaine, ecstasy, heroin and methadone tend to be the more newsy drugs, but sadly the subject of solvent abuse is one which continues to bubble away.

"It is never far from the surface but frequently forgotten, although always potentially, as in these latest cases, just as serious and deadly."

Anti-drugs campaign

In September last year Fife Police said they would "pursue indefinitely" the important themes of last summer's Know the Score anti-drugs campaign.

They released details of two 14-year-old boys were found inhaling the contents of butane gas cylinders in Dunfermline.

This followed two West Fife girls, one aged 13 and the other nine, being found inhaling solvents from a plastic bag.

Detective Inspector Small said: "Solvent abuse is most common amongst youngsters aged between 12 and 16.

'Scary' potential

"It can become common in a small, localised area like a school or estate and then disappear and this type of abuse does seem to go in and out of fashion," he added.

"Sadly several young people still die every month in the United Kingdom from solvent abuse, many of whom are actually first-time users.

"These latest incidents only serve to underline that solvent abuse is still with us and the potential for a young life to be lost remains just as scary today as it always has done."