Rotorua youngsters who otherwise look behaved are among those indulging in solvent abuse.
A resident in the Pererika Street area - who would not be named - said he had seen a group of young people every night for the past week, while walking his dog, sniffing glue and paint underan elm tree.
Police say solvent abuse by young people has long been a problem in the city and warn of the serious consequences of the habit.
"You can see all the paint cans and bags with paint on them strewn across the field. I found two other bags with some kind of powder in them - don't know what that was," the man who had seen the young people said. He had seen them while walking his dog in the area in the early evenings.
"It's a nice place and it's a shame to see that kind of thing happening there."
What surprised the man the most was the type of youngsters he saw getting high. "There were four girls with these blokes the other night. The girls were giggling and screaming away as they sniffed out of the bags. They looked like such nice, tidy girls too. You can kind of understand if it's a couple of rag-tag boys, but these girls just looked so out of place."
Detective Sergeant Dennis Murphy of the Rotorua CIB said the city had always had a problem with juveniles sniffing glue or paint. He warned youngsters who were experimenting with solvent abuse to stop immediately because it caused serious damage.
"You can tell someone who has sniffed the stuff for years because they are like dribbling zombies. The damage it does is horrendous, particularly to young minds.
"Because it's a solvent, not only does it kill your brain cells but it also causes serious effects to your bodily organs."
Mr Murphy asked the public to contact the police at the Rotorua station if they saw youngsters sniffing glue or paint. "If we know when and where it's happening then we can take some action," he said.
