WHEN glue-sniffing reared its ugly head 20 years ago, Mr Mohd Yusof Ismail, 49, was still a rookie counsellor.

He recalls seeing teens walking around like 'zombies' at rehabilitation centres and crime-scene photographs of those who fell to their deaths while they were high.

'It was worse than scary. It left a deep impression on me. I thought something must be done for these kids,' he said.

The authorities acted and made glue-sniffing an offence in 1987. Within a few years, there was a sharp dip in the number of abusers caught.

It stayed that way until recently, when the numbers started to climb again.

It started about two years ago, said Mr Mohd Yusof. More teenagers hooked on inhalants turned to him for help.

It was deja vu for the chief executive of Ain Society which helps troubled teens, including 20 now hooked on glue.

Mr Mohd Yusof still remembers the first glue-sniffing addict he counselled back in 1990, a 15-year-old boy.

'He couldn't focus, his gaze kept shifting, his speech was slurred and he walked like a zombie.'

The boy, he said, was once intelligent and active, playing soccer for his school.

'The more I see teens like him, the more I don't want the glue-sniffing menace to come back again. Let it be buried in the past.'

Although the glue-sniffing situation has not returned to what it was like in the bad old days of the 1980s, counsellors are concerned about a new generation of youth who are oblivious to the dangers.

Mr Abdul Halim Kader, president of Taman Bacaan halfway house, said inhalant abuse was a stepping stone for some to drugs such as Ecstasy and cannabis.

Teenagers who think it is harmless and a cheap fix compared to drinking and smoking are dead wrong.

Dr Carol Balhetchet, director of youth services at the Singapore Children's Society, said: 'The danger is they can get so high that they become unaware of their surroundings...When things happen, it's too late.'

Although death as a result of glue-sniffing is rare, according to the Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB), there have been a few cases in the Coroner's Court over the past two years.

In April last year, a 14-year-old girl drowned in a canal and a toxicology report showed that she had probably been sniffing glue earlier.

State Coroner Ronald Gwee said the glue could have hampered her ability to think and react to save herself.

Then in January this year, a 17-year-old girl was found dead at the foot of a block of flats in Pipit Road. A plastic bag of glue was found in the corridor on the 13th storey.

Mr Mohd Yusof has also come across two teenage girls who claimed they were molested after getting high on glue last year.

Glue sniffers can die of suffocation from even their first whiff, said a CNB spokesman. 'To an inhalant abuser, even normal activities like running and shouting can cause death by heart failure.'

Glue sniffing also damages the brain, muscles, nerves and organs.

Counsellors applauded the tougher stance by the CNB, which has a procedure to guide schools in reporting inhalant cases to it.

School counsellor Soh Shiow Jiuan said the agency's officers might be able to provide more 'stringent monitoring' and instil the 'fear factor' in the teens.

Mr Mohd Yusof added: 'If we just keep warning and warning them, there's no cut-off. We can't afford to lose teens to this kind of madness.'

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