On a cold morning near President’s Bridge in Damascus, a small child sat on a worn-out curb watching the speeding cars with half-closed eyes. He held a large gas lighter, bringing it close to his nose from time to time, then relaxing for a few moments before letting out a faint laugh and swaying like someone losing balance. A passerby approached trying to speak with him, but the child appeared absent, lost in another world, as if what he was inhaling carried him far away from the merciless noise of the city. This child, who may not be older than eleven, embodies today one of the most dangerous growing phenomena in the streets of Damascus and Aleppo: sniffing glue and inhalants.
In recent months, the spread of this practice has risen particularly among street children, becoming a daily sight in several areas of Damascus, Aleppo, and their surrounding countryside. These substances are popularly known as glue sniffing, gasoline sniffing, and volatile gases. Children turn to them for the sense of dizziness and temporary detachment from reality they provide, despite their risks that may reach sudden death.
+963 documented this phenomenon during field tours in the Hamidiyah Market, the area around President’s Bridge, the streets of Baramkeh in Damascus, as well as Salah al Din Roundabout in Aleppo. The scenes captured were shocking and painful, as these children consume something whose danger they do not understand, behaving as if it were ordinary. Groups of children aged nine to fourteen were observed using gas lighters or small canisters to release gases and inhale them repeatedly, swaying in a dazed state before repeating the act again.
During an attempt to speak with one of these children in Damascus, he said softly as he inhaled from the lighter, “It makes me forget. I feel like I am flying.”
Intertwined roots of the phenomenon
The child had no awareness of what he was doing, nor did it cross his mind that this temporary “flight” could cost him his life. Another child from rural Damascus told +963 that it began as a joke, but he gradually became accustomed to it, adding, “The feeling comes suddenly. I feel like the world is spinning. All the boys do it.”
While the scene may appear to be just an incidental behavior, the roots of the phenomenon are deeply intertwined. Social researcher Mahmoud al-Khalil, explains that poverty, family fragmentation, and the lack of community oversight are the factors most linked to its spread.
He told +963 that children in impoverished or begging environments often turn to any behavior that gives them quick pleasure or a means of escaping pressure. He added that the spread of risky behavioral models among them without deterrents causes the phenomenon to spread by imitation.
Al-Khalil points out that glue sniffing is a form of inhalant abuse. These substances produce hallucinatory effects on the nervous system, yet they are cheap and easy to access, making them attractive to children.
He adds that inhaling them may lead to irregular heartbeat, nerve damage, sudden loss of consciousness, and even cardiac arrest.
From a medical standpoint, neurologist Wael al-Bahri provides a more precise description of the danger, affirming that inhaling the gases released by the glue poses immediate and direct risk to children. The substances inside these canisters, especially butane and isobutane, quickly turn into toxic compounds that enter the bloodstream unfiltered and reach the brain within moments.
Al-Bahri told +963 that the rapid neurological impact of these substances explains the sudden dizziness and imbalance children experience. The greater danger, however, is the structural damage inflicted on nerve cells.
According to the doctor, repeated inhalation for days or weeks can be enough to cause permanent changes in the developing brains of children. These changes later manifest as memory weakness, poor academic performance, and difficulties in attention and decision-making.
He adds that the risks extend beyond the brain. Butane can trigger acute disturbances in heart rhythm that may cause sudden cardiac arrest within seconds. It also has dangerous effects on the respiratory system, preventing the lungs from properly absorbing oxygen and causing an unnoticeable internal suffocation.
Al-Bahri stresses that flame sniffing constitutes repeated poisoning similar to drug abuse, making urgent intervention and awareness essential.
Easily accessible in markets
Despite the danger of these substances, glue canisters are widely available in markets without regulation. Prices start at ten thousand Syrian pounds, an amount children can easily gather. A single session requires between two and five canisters, equivalent to one hundred forty to two hundred grams of gas, consumed within minutes or at most an hour.
A source in a Damascus police department confirmed to +963 that they receive complaints about children inhaling unidentified substances in the streets and that patrols respond to reports. However, he pointed out the difficulty of controlling the phenomenon because it occurs in public streets using legally sold materials.
He emphasized the need for parents to report cases, as community awareness is a critical factor in limiting the spread.
For her part, child-protection activist Hazar al-Hamdou, believes that security measures alone are insufficient and could even be harmful if children are treated as lawbreakers.
She told +963 that most of these children come from extremely fragile environments, and some have no families at all. She notes that primary responsibility lies with society and the relevant institutions that have left them without protection.
She adds that the solution is not confiscating the lighter but implementing psychological and social intervention programs and reintegrating children into schools or specialized centers.
Despite the spread of videos and photos documenting the phenomenon, no serious national campaigns have emerged to address it. Some teachers have tried individually to raise students’ awareness, but the absence of a comprehensive governmental program to combat addictive behaviors among children leaves the situation likely to worsen.
Educational counselor Mustafa Haj Qaddour, told +963 that efforts inside schools alone are not enough because a large portion of children most at risk are already outside the education system.
He believes that serious intervention must begin with understanding the social roots of the problem and that awareness campaigns must be broad, continuous, and reach the streets and families. He affirms the need to form community protection teams consisting of social and psychological specialists to work directly with children in impoverished neighborhoods.
He also calls for regulating the sale of volatile substances, creating safe recreational alternatives in marginalized areas, reintegrating street children into alternative education programs, and training parents to identify early signs of substance use.
Caught between neglect, harsh reality, and institutional silence, these children stand alone, facing the streets without a shield to protect their endangered childhood.
