Wife: Paint huffing addiction very real

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) - A wife speaks out about her husband's addiction to huffing paint.

Elizabeth Gibson wants people to know that huffing is just as serious as any other drug addiction.

Her husband Kelly Gibson was charged with inhaling toxic vapors after she called police and told them he was huffing paint in their apartment last week

“My husband is a good guy," Elizabeth said. “But when it comes to that huffing, it makes him a monster.”

According to a Fort Wayne Police Department report, when an officer arrived at the 517 Lawton Place apartment, Elizabeth said she and her husband Kelly had been in an argument and he had gone upstairs to huff paint.

The report said since she was afraid to go inside, she handed the officer her keys and followed him up.

When the officer opened the door, the entire apartment smelled of paint fumes and Kelly was found sitting on the couch with his shirt off, and his hands, mouth, nose and chin covered in silver paint.

“People need to understand that he is still a person,” Elizabeth said. “He is a person fighting with a very ugly addiction.”

Police said Kelly had a can of silver spray paint in his right hand and a paint-covered plastic bag in his left.

The officer said Kelly had a dazed, glassy-eyed look about him and was unsteady on his feet.

Elizabeth said the huffing episodes would drag on and on, sometimes lasting up to six hours.

“Afterwards, he's still like he's on it, but he's not. Then he'll calm down, clean himself up, and it's like he feels bad,” she said.

Kelly was taken to the Allen County Jail and charged with inhaling toxic vapors. Elizabeth said could be released toward the end of May.

It’s the 48th time Kelly has been charged with inhaling since 1992.

“Without help, that man is just going to keep falling. He can't stop once it's in his thoughts. I've learned to accept some things, but that huffing I can't accept,” Elizabeth said.