Thinner abuse lead to death of a 26-year-old man in Paro

On 15 July, the Paro police discovered a lifeless body of a 26-year-old man in the middle of the river near Desuung office. The body was spotted by one of the DeSuups.

Following the discovery of body, the deceased man’s friend, on the same day, happened to file a missing of person report in the police station.

The deceased man’s friend who was with him at the time of incident had revealed to the police that on the night of 14 July, the two of them were loitering nearby the riverbank.

The friend had also shared that they were inhaling paint thinner, a solvent drug, before the deceased went missing from the scene. By the time he came to his senses, and he couldn’t locate his friend anywhere.

Further, he said that he began searching around the scene, suspecting that the friend might have jumped into the river.

With no trace of the deceased at all, he contacted his other friends to check to see if the deceased was at home, workplace or town area, but to no avail.

The friend tested positive after drug test.

Investigation is underway to seek mobile phone call detail records of the deceased, and the friend for further investigation.

The body was handed over to the relatives of the deceased on the same day of discovery.

Sniffing of the thinner, being a volatile substance like an acid, enters the brain cell and kills the cells in it. It reduces a certain percentage of thinking process, memory, and therefore, the analyzing process is reduced. Prolonged abuse of such volatile substance can severely affect the brain and make it non-functional. Therefore, thinners are categorized as dangerous substance which is being abused.

Police officials shared that since the solvent (thinner) is a legal commodity, it can be easily bought, and the youth end up abusing it, though it is not meant to be abused.

Abusing of thinner has become increasingly high among minors and youths, and limits or disrupts their normal growth, both physically and mentally.