I know just a little about them. My husband used to have life threatening asthma as a child. As an adult he has had a few life threatening asthma attacks but they have to be brought on by something fairly serious like exposure to chemical vapors at a work site, etc...  Some of the inhalers are prescription only and I guess soon (in my state anyway) they are about to all be prescription only. You used to be able to buy over the counter inhalers as well such as Primatene Mist. He used to keep a few around the house, one at work... due to some sort of chemical that some environmental agency determined to be dangerous to the ozone layer those are being taken off of the market (at least here in my state).  Here in my state I know that prior to the OTC ones being pulled there was a lot of talk about making the OTC ones illegal due to (mainly kids) taking too many puffs too quickly off of the inhalers and causing heart attacks and death because from what I know about the ones like Primatene Mist the reason why it works is because you are inhaling epinephrine. I have also heard talk about them considering making the OTC ones illegal not because you can get high from the inhalers but kids using them to get a "rush". I guess because of the epinephrine. I know in the movie "Crank" with Jason Statham in it they showed him huffing inhaler after inhaler to increase his heart rate. I have taken maybe two puffs from my SO's OTC inhaler when I had bronchitis and couldn't get in to see the doctor. It did what it was supposed to and opened up my lungs but it made my heart feel like it was ready to explode and I normally have a lower end of normal heart rate. From the comments on the linked post and the OPs replies she makes it clear these were prescription inhalers that were stolen. In my state anyway given the current drug climate I am going to say it's safe to assume that the police here anyway wouldn't take this shit lightly.