Laughing gas is harmful, so why is it only banned in Hanoi?
The Ministry of Health agrees with the proposal of the Hanoi People's Committee to stop the use of N2O gas in recreational activities (through laughing gas balloons). Due to the harmful effects of inhaling laughing gas, it is necessary to ban laughing gas balloons nationwide.
Currently, in bars and nightclubs, a new form of entertainment for some young people is inhaling nitrous oxide (laughing gas). In some northern provinces, the illegal buying, selling, and circulation of nitrous oxide cylinders is occurring. Meanwhile, inhaling nitrous oxide is harmful to health and can even be life-threatening.
Hanoi bans the use of laughing gas for recreational purposes.
Laughing gas is an inorganic compound called dinitrogen oxide (nitrous oxide), with the formula N2O. It is a colorless gas with a slightly sweet taste. It is called laughing gas because there is a hypothesis that this gas acts on a point in the nervous system that triggers laughter.
British chemist Humphry Davy was the first to discover, while studying nitrogen oxides, that N2O possesses a very unique, even bizarre, physiological property: it induces laughter. The first person to use N2O as an anesthetic was American dentist Horace Wells.
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| A young man inhales nitrous oxide (laughing gas) at a bar in Hanoi. |
Laughing gas balloons are essentially balloons inflated with N2O gas. The equipment for inflating them is very simple: just a small compressed gas cylinder, two plastic containers for the balloons, and a metal tube.
The user puts the end of the balloon in their mouth, inhales the gas inside (which has been inflated with nitrous oxide), then exhales to inflate the balloon, and then inhales again, repeating this process about 4 times.
Inhaling the gas inside this balloon will cause a tingling, lightheaded sensation, followed by exhilaration and uncontrollable laughter.
Harmful effects of abuse as a recreational substance.
Many young people enjoy inhaling nitrous oxide (laughing gas) through balloons because it's similar to a mild drug, creating euphoria and hallucinations. When inhaling nitrous oxide from balloons, it's difficult to control the amount of gas because the user cannot measure the quantity inhaled.
Meanwhile, experts have warned that inhaling large amounts of this gas can certainly lead to poisoning, bodily disorders, and even cancer.
In late 2012, a 19-year-old student at the University of Illinois (USA) died from asphyxiation due to nitrous oxide (N2O) while using laughing gas.
The danger is that prolonged abuse of hallucinogens can easily lead to the use of real addictive drugs, even narcotics, especially methamphetamine. Because once people become accustomed to the "high" from hallucinations, they are very likely to seek out something that produces an even stronger "high."
Those who are used to getting high from laughing gas may eventually try marijuana, ecstasy, crystal meth, and become addicted.
While synthetic stimulants like methamphetamine are being abused, they are dangerous and addictive drugs with immeasurable harm. Specifically, methamphetamine causes users to lose all reason, potentially leading to heinous crimes.
Many people suffer from N2O poisoning from laughing gas.
On the afternoon of May 30th, representatives from the Poison Control Center at Bach Mai Hospital stated that there are currently two patients being treated at the hospital for N2O poisoning from laughing gas.
Almost every day, this hospital receives patients suffering from nitrous oxide poisoning due to reasons such as spinal cord damage (slow or irreversible), leg paralysis, leg weakness, etc., after prolonged use of nitrous oxide.
Patients who suffered from N2O poisoning all reported that they initially used laughing gas for fun, but after a while, they all found themselves needing to increase their dosage to achieve the desired effect (similar to the increased dosage requirement in drug users).
Many people have bought entire cylinders of N2O gas to fill for their groups of friends to use together. Because N2O is now freely available and the number of people using laughing gas is increasing, the number of N2O poisoning cases is also increasing.
The representative stated that in 2018, the Poison Control Center of Bach Mai Hospital participated in providing feedback to the Hanoi People's Committee, leading to Hanoi's proposal to the Ministry of Health and other relevant ministries and agencies regarding strengthening the management of N2O gas production and business.
Going forward, the center continues to recommend that the Ministry of Health should ban the use of N2O for recreational purposes nationwide.
