A 15-year-old Australian girl, identified only as 'Rosie', has admitted she will continue inhaling deodorant despite witnessing her cousin die from the practice. The teenager from Brisbane, who started 'chroming' at age 12, said she cannot stop due to addiction.
Rosie described how she, her cousin, and friends stole deodorant from a supermarket and inhaled it in a park. Her cousin began choking and collapsed. 'His eyes were rolling into the back of his head... he spewed up everywhere white... all the chrome up,' she told the ABC. He died shortly after.
Despite this, Rosie said she continues chroming. 'If you keep chroming, chroming, chroming all these cans, you just can't stop yourself... you need it,' she said. Her boyfriend Jordan, who started at 13, recalled a friend blacking out in the shower and waking up covered in blood.
Youth support worker Michael Carter reported a 'big uptake' in chroming among teenagers, noting that more were caught in 2018 than 2017 in Queensland. The practice is not illegal.
