STREET children have switched to the use of Vulcaseal from rugby, prompting the Dangerous Drugs Board to study ways to dampen its attractive smell.
DDB Undersecretary Edgar Galvante said after the cement toluene-based inhalant, known as rugby, was made “unappealing” to users, street kids have shifted to sniffing Vulcaseal, an elastomeric sealant being used for patching holes on roofs and plastic pipes.
“We are studying the ingredients of this solvent if one of them is in the list of the controlled substances,” he told The Standard.
“We have already made rugby smell less aromatic when we recommended and approved the addition of mustard oil [to this inhalant].”
Still, some street children would rather sniff rugby, he said.
Cement contact has toluene which attracts drug users for its aromatic and addictive properties.
Mustard oil is a colorless to pale yellow pungent irritating oil that is obtained from the seeds of black mustard.
Galvante, however, said what is more disturbing is the increasing number of children shifting to Vulcaseal.
Meanwnhile, Senator Vicente Sotto has proposed expanding the powers of the Presidential Drug Enforce Agency and give it supervision over all matters involving prohibited drugs.
This will fit into the plan for a total war on the illegal drug trade, Sotto said.
He promised to file in the 17th Congress a bill incorporting all the functions related to illegal drugs under one agency.