Laughing Gas: The New Craze with Life-Altering Repercussions
What is Laughing Gas?
Laughing gas (nitrous oxide) is a chemical compound, with the formula N2O, often used in surgery and dentistry for its anaesthetic and pain reducing effects. At room temperature, it is a colourless non-flammable gas with a slightly sweet scent and taste. However, it is now one of the most widely used recreational drugs among young people in the UK. It can produce feelings of euphoria, relaxation and calmness as well as fits of giggles and laughter, but its use can often result in severe and long lasting medical conditions. Those small silver capsules you often see discarded on pavements and in parks are testament to how widespread this problem has become. In a new, worrying trend, canisters up to 80 times the regular size are being sold on social media. A government-commissioned review is currently assessing whether tougher laws are needed.
"Nos Balloons"
Nitrous oxide - also known as “Nos Balloons” or "whippets," is generally sold in silver canisters holding around 8g of the gas. These small containers are being swapped for a supersized version holding 80 times the amount. Experts say this could lead to people using larger quantities. Doctors have warned of an "epidemic" of young people being admitted to hospital after inhaling it - some of whom are ending up paralysed.
Is it Legal?
Selling Nitrous Oxide for psychoactive use is currently against the law but possession of a large canister is legal, which has lead to it being the second-most used drug among 16 to 24-year-olds in the UK.
Kerry-Anne's Story
In a recent report by the BBC, Kerry-Anne, a user of nitrous oxide shared her experiences. She used large canisters of the gas. At one stage, she was having up to about 600 doses a week. She found that she wouldn’t be able to do anything except sleep and would have vomiting and sweating fits and couldn’t eat or drink anything. She found herself hospitalised after losing the sensation in her legs resulting in her father having to move in with her as her full-time carer.
The Effects
Dr Mark Ellul, a specialist registrar in neurology from Liverpool said: “It’s normally young people and they would normally come in noticing that they were clumsy, or they were falling. Then sometimes people are actually just unable to walk at all. Often they don’t volunteer straight away that they’ve been using it and often they’re surprised, they didn’t have any idea that this could happen. You know, they’re often under the impression it’s quite a safe thing to do.”
He said young people were coming in with “altered sensation” in their arms and legs, numbness, pins and needles, difficulty walking and in the most severe cases damage to their spinal cord which can cause permanent damage. He said some patients will have permanent damage, some will recover but this will take “months” depending on the severity of the spinal damage “I think there’s this misbelief that it’s because it’s a bit of fun and that it’s harmless, [patients] don’t really appreciate potential damage. The ones we see really [tend] to be chronic users over a prolonged period of time.”
Expert Opinion
Experts are worried that prolonged use can cause serious, long-term health issues, including permanent neurological damage. Doctor David Nicholl, a consultant neurologist at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham, said he and his colleagues are dealing with increasingly large numbers of young people coming into hospital after using the gas. In a TikTok video, he warns that many people taking the gas recreationally may not be aware of the risks. "At the moment we - myself and my colleagues - are seeing an epidemic of young people being admitted to hospital off their legs because they have been taking whippets," he says in the clip. Some patients are left with "life-changing neurological injuries", he says, adding: "Is that really a laughing matter? I don't think it is."
Home Secretary Priti Patel has asked the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs to review the drug’s possible harm.
For more Information on laughing gas or any other recreational drug, go to: www.talktofrank.com
Social Media
Demand for these new, supersize canisters is often driven by social media. TikTok is hosting adverts for a UK-based company that promises to deliver nitrous oxide in the form of whipped cream chargers to over-18s “within the hour.” Although nitrous oxide is illegal when sold as a psychoactive drug, it is legal when sold for commercial uses – such as to make whipped cream. A company called Bristol No 1 Cream promises speedy delivery of the canisters only between the hours of 5pm and 4am. It claims to sell boxes of 24 cream chargers for £15, and requests customers to be over 18, and show their ID. The ad is being geotargeted towards users in Bristol. At the time of writing, the ad has 493 likes and has been shared 67 times.
In a report by The Independent, it was revealed that calls to the National Poisons Information Service have increased by 257 per cent in 2021-22, according to data due to be published later this year.