Yarmouth Police Find "Huffing Den"

YARMOUTH (CBS) -- Yarmouth Police have discovered what they call a "huffing den" littered with cans of whipped cream and dust cleaning spray in the woods.

They say teenagers left them there. "Middle school through high school. They're not buying this to make desserts," says Detective Stephen Renzi. He says the teens are inhaling nitrous oxide fumes from the cans. "If you're inhaling chemicals into your system, the brain is affected," he says.

WBZ-TV's Christina Hager reports.

Just so happens at the very same time detectives were investigating, a Yarmouth patrol officer responded to a call of a 22-year-old having a seizure in the middle of a busy road.

Officer Al Sprague called his parents to come get him.

"As the parents were getting him into the car, I noticed this can of Blast Away that he was trying to hide from me," he says. The young man had been at the huffing den earlier that day, and had a pre-existing condition that, when combined with huffing, sets his body into shock.

"If he continues to do this, with this condition, it will kill him," says Sprague.

Police are asking store clerks to be on the look-out for groups of teenagers buying large quantities of products in those types of cans. Anyone caught inhaling faces as much as a half year behind bars.

"We don't want to see any young kids die out here because they're trying to get a quick high off this stuff," says Sprague.