Laughing gas is toxic, why is it only banned in Hanoi?
The Ministry of Health agrees with the proposal of the Hanoi People's Committee to stop using N2O gas in entertainment (through laughing gas). Because of the harmful effects of inhaling laughing gas, laughing gas should be banned nationwide.
Nowadays, in bars and nightclubs, the new "fashion" of entertainment for a group of young people is to inhale laughing gas. In some northern provinces, illegal buying and selling of laughing gas cylinders is happening. Meanwhile, inhaling laughing gas is harmful to health and can even be fatal.
Hanoi bans the use of laughing gas for recreational purposes.
Laughing gas is an inorganic compound called nitrous oxide, formula N2O, is a colorless gas, has a slightly sweet taste. The reason N2O is called laughing gas is because there is a hypothesis that this gas acts on a point of the nervous system that causes laughter.
The British chemist Humphry Davy was the first person to study nitrous oxide and discovered that N2O has very unique, even ridiculous, physiological properties. The first person to use N2O as an anesthetic was the American dentist Horace Wells.
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| A young man inhales laughing gas at a bar in Hanoi. |
Laughing balloons are essentially balloons filled with N2O gas. The pumping equipment is very simple, just a small compressed air tank, two plastic boxes for the balloons and an iron pipe.
The user puts his mouth on the end of the balloon, inhales the air inside the balloon (filled with laughing gas), then blows it back out to make the balloon bigger, then inhales the air again, repeating this about 4 times.
Inhaling the gas in this ball will make you feel numb, lightheaded, then excited and laughing hysterically.
Harmful effects of recreational drug abuse
Many young people like to inhale laughing gas through laughing balloons because it is like a mild drug, creating excitement and hallucinations. When inhaling laughing gas through laughing balloons, it is very difficult to control the amount of gas because the user himself cannot measure the amount of gas inhaled.
Meanwhile, experts have warned that inhaling too much of this gas can definitely cause poisoning, body disorders, and even cancer.
In late 2012, a student (19 years old) at the University of Illinois (USA) died from N2O gas suffocation while playing laughing gas.
The danger is that if you abuse hallucinogens for a long time, it will be very easy to turn to using real addictive drugs, even using drugs, especially crystal meth. Because when you get used to the feeling of being "high" from hallucinogens, it is very easy to look for something that creates a stronger feeling of "high".
People who are used to using laughing gas to get high will eventually try marijuana, ecstasy, crystal meth and become addicted.
While synthetic stimulants such as crystal meth are being abused as dangerous and harmful addictive drugs. Specifically, crystal meth makes users lose all reason, which can lead to committing terrible crimes.
Many people are poisoned by N2O in laughing gas.
On the afternoon of May 30, a representative of the Poison Control Center, Bach Mai Hospital, said that there are currently 2 patients poisoned by N2O from laughing gas being treated at the hospital.
Almost every day this hospital receives patients poisoned by laughing gas for reasons such as spinal cord damage (slow or no recovery), leg paralysis, leg weakness... after using laughing gas for a long time.
Patients with N2O poisoning all said that at first they used laughing gas for fun, but after a period of use, they all saw a phenomenon of increasing the dose to ensure fun (similar to the need to increase the dose in drug users).
Many people have bought N2O gas cylinders to pump for their group of friends to play with. Because N2O is now freely traded and the number of people playing laughing gas is increasing, the situation of N2O poisoning is also increasing.
This representative said that in 2018, the Poison Control Center, Bach Mai Hospital participated in giving comments to the Hanoi People's Committee, leading to Hanoi's proposal to the Ministry of Health and related ministries and branches on strengthening the management of N2O gas production and trading.
The center continues to recommend that the Ministry of Health ban the use of N2O for recreational purposes nationwide.