Recreational use of nitrous oxide

Nitrous oxide (street name hippy crack, whippets or whippits) is a gas which can induce euphoria, hallucinogenic states and relaxation when inhaled. First recorded in the 18th century at upper-class "laughing gas parties", the experience was largely limited to medical students until the late 20th century when laws limiting access to the gas were loosened to supply dentists and hospitals. By the 2010s, nitrous oxide had become a moderately popular recreational drug in some countries. Possession of nitrous oxide is legal in many countries, although some have criminalised supplying it for recreational purposes.

Nitrous oxide is a neurotoxin and its use can cause long-term neurological damage.

Effects

Nitrous oxide is used recreationally as inhalation can induce euphoria, relaxation and a hallucinogenic state. Long-term or habitual use can lead to severe neurological damage.

Since nitrous oxide can cause dizziness, dissociation, and temporary loss of motor control, it is unsafe to inhale while standing up. So part of safer use can be to inhale it while seated, because there is a decreased risk of injury from falling. Inhalation directly from a tank poses serious health risks, as it can cause frostbite since the gas is very cold when released. For those reasons, most recreational users will discharge the gas into a balloon or whipped cream dispenser before inhaling.

It is not known if nitrous oxide causes drug dependency but its use can be habit-forming. Death can result if it is inhaled in such a way that not enough oxygen is breathed in. While the pure gas is not acutely toxic, it inactivates vitamin B₁₂, with continued use causing neurological damage due to peripheral and central demyelination. Symptoms are similar to B₁₂ deficiency: anemia due to reduced hemopoiesis, neuropathy, tinnitus, and numbness in extremities. While vitamin B₁₂ supplementation is unlikely to prevent neurotoxicity, it is recommended as a first-line treatment when combined with abstinence. Pregnant women should not use nitrous oxide recreationally, because chronic use is also teratogenic and foetotoxic.

Inhaling industrial-grade nitrous oxide is also dangerous, as it contains many impurities and is not intended for use on humans. Food grade nitrous oxide is also not meant to be inhaled; the bulbs commonly have industrial lubricants from their manufacturing process on and in them. When the bulb is punctured, these solvents can aerosolize, introducing unknown particles into the gas. These lubricants commonly leave an oily residue on the bulb "cracker" or inside the whipped cream dispenser.

Nitrous oxide related deaths

From 1993 to 2016, only 30 death certificates in England and Wales mentioned nitrous oxide. Of those, 6 were in the 17-year period from 1993 through 2009, and 24 were in the 7-year period from 2010 through 2016.

In 2018, an Ohio University freshman died of asphyxiation as a result of nitrous oxide ingestion from whipped-cream chargers, allegedly as part of a hazing ritual.

In 2020, a fifteen-year-old Irish boy died after ingesting nitrous oxide, leading to Ireland's Health Service Executive classing it as a dangerous drug.

Culture and society

Discovery and early use

Inhalation of nitrous oxide for recreational use, with the purpose of causing euphoria or slight hallucinations, began as a phenomenon for the British upper class in 1799, known as "laughing gas parties". English chemist Humphry Davy offered the gas to party guests in a silken bag, and documented its effects in his 1800 book ''Researches, Chemical and Philosophical'' which investigated "nitrous oxide, or diphlogisticated nitrous air, and its respiration". Poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge described the effect as "like returning from a walk in the snow into a warm room".

During the 19th century, William James and many contemporaries found that inhalation of nitrous oxide resulted in a powerful spiritual and mystical experience for the user. James claimed to experience the fusing of dichotomies into unity and a revelation of ultimate truth during the inhalation of nitrous oxide. The memory of this experience, however, quickly faded and any attempt to communicate was difficult at best. James described a man who, when under the influence of the gas, claimed to know the secret of the universe.

Until at least 1863, low availability of equipment to produce the gas, combined with low usage of the gas for medical purposes, meant it was a relatively rare phenomenon that mainly happened among students at medical universities. When equipment became more widely available for dentistry and hospitals, most countries also restricted the legal access to buy pure nitrous oxide gas cylinders to those sectors. Even so, its use in parties continued, with gas provided by medical professionals or restaurant workers, and by other legal or illegal sources.

20th century

A report from Consumers Union report from 1972 (based upon reports of its use in Maryland 1971, Vancouver 1972, and a survey made by Edward J. Lynn of its non-medical use in Michigan 1970) found that use of the gas for recreational purposes was then prevalent in the US and Canada.

21st century

, the gas enjoys moderate popularity in some countries as a recreational drug. Nitrous oxide has the street names ''hippy crack'' and ''whippets'' (or ''whippits''). In Australia and New Zealand, nitrous oxide bulbs are known as ''nangs'', possibly derived from the sound distortion perceived by consumers.

In the United Kingdom, , nitrous oxide is estimated to be used by almost half a million young people at nightspots, festivals and parties. Officials in Norfolk, Hertfordshire and Thames Valley had reported increasing numbers of discarded whipped-cream chargers being found.

Recreational users generally use 8 gram (¼ oz) containers of nitrous oxide "whippets", which they use to fill balloons or whipped cream dispensers. The gas is then inhaled from the balloon or dispenser. This is necessary because nitrous oxide is very cold when it undergoes adiabatic decompression on exit from a canister; i