Children as young as eight years old caught huffing deodorant cans inside a Hamilton laundromat are being warned they risk almost instant death.
The owner of the laundromat has spoken out, saying he's losing customers after a large group of youngsters began huffing inside his unmanned store a month ago.
Up to 14 children are regularly huffing at the Double Bubble Laundromat in Hamilton's Dinsdale by climbing inside machines to inhale the fumes from deodorant canisters.
"They do it two or three times a day and if they are doing this in our premises, God knows how much else they are doing it," the owner, who Newshub has agreed not to name, said.
The CCTV laid it all bare and showed a boy in the foreground collapsing to the floor. In another video, a group wait over a minute and a half before going to check on their friend who has locked themselves in a dryer to huff.
In some cases, the owner said there's evidence the children are spitting blood while they're out of it.
The children are aged between eight and 12 years old and they're going there to get high at all hours of the day and night - even at 11:30pm when the store closes. In some cases, a security guard has even found them sleeping behind the machines where there's high voltage power.
"A lot of elderly customers are basically complaining, and on top of that the most worrying part is the health of these kids," the owner said.
Those at the coal face said inhaling gases like butane has been a worry for years and doing it in an enclosed space is lethal.
"Three or four minutes of asphyxia, you know, dead," said Dr John Bonning, Te Whatu Ora Waikato emergency specialist.
He said there doesn't appear to be an uptick in cases, but a teenage girl did die in Melbourne earlier in the month.
"From completely healthy to dead in three minutes of misjudgement. So we are really concerned that you can get cardiac arrhythmias, seizures, but it's that sudden death that's really concerning for these young children."
Locals using the Double Bubble Laundromat are feeling just as on edge as its owner.
"It definitely disturbs the community," one told Newshub.
"It can be intimidating at times," another said.
"I'm waiting for an uproar, I can see people fighting back because the police are so busy with other things," a third said.
The group has damaged the business's Eftpos machine, broken tables and left a mess each time they invade - and not even a trespass order seemed to work.
"We spoke with the police asking if we can get the trespass order issued but unfortunately the kids come back despite the order being issued," the owner said.
Coming back could mean a date with death.
"You need to think long and hard about that, is the buzz worth it."
A police spokesperson told Newshub they want anyone who sees young people huffing unknown substances to call 111.
"The main focus for police in that instance would be on ensuring the health and wellbeing of those young people," they said.
"We encourage parents to have conversations with their young people about healthy behaviours, and have a good awareness of their movements and whereabouts.
"Police hold concerns any young person found undertaking actions that could be detrimental to their health and take steps to ensure their ongoing care and protection. These steps vary on a case-by-case basis."
