These new data serve as a wake-up call to parents. Mental health is a critical part of the overall health and well-being of their children.

I would call the scope of this disaster, the scale of mental health problems, unprecedented.

These new data show that too many pre-teens and young teens are sniffing or inhaling common everyday household products with potentially disastrous, even deadly results. We hope to use this opportunity to help raise awareness among parents about the potential for danger in their own homes.

We're involving the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency and health and mental health officials so we can help parents or others who may not know they have a problem, those who think they have a problem but aren't sure and those who have a problem but don't know where to go.

The findings have important implications for estimating the level of mental health services that may be needed.

Mental health is often missing from public health debates even though it's critical to wellbeing.