Laughing gas: Experts warn nitrous oxide ban will not stop use

[Shippou-Sensei]

Laughing gas: Experts warn nitrous oxide ban will not stop use

The government defends new plans to tackle anti-social behaviour by clamping down on nitrous oxide.

www.bbc.co.uk

Does the government also ask experts abut ursine fecal deposits?


Our taxes at work.

 

[mojo pixy]

I'm imagining a group of experts sitting in a circle giggling about it, nobody can stop us, huffffffff...

 

[salem]

I'm not too fussed about it as a drug, seems fairly low down the pecking order in terms of damaging lives. However the fucking litter is getting really bad and there's no excuse for that. Also saw someone driving with a balloon the other week for the first time which just seems utterly stupid based on my limited experience of taking it.

 

[StoneRoad]

Banning something is the quick was to make something far more attractive to both users and those that make money / control the supply side.

Self-defeating IMHO.

 

[Magnus McGinty]

Seems its usage can cause serious health problems which is surely concerning?

 

[Sasaferrato]

One of our posters posted about looking after people with permanent spinal injuries due to overuse of Nitrous Oxide.

I'm not generally in favour of banning things, I think people should be able to make their own decisions, but I'm very conflicted on this. I don't know if the youngsters up here are using it, I haven't seen the wee cylinders discarded anywhere. We have a bridge near us where youngsters congregate and smoke weed, but not using NO2.

Like everything else, a ban won't make it go away, just push the price up.

What I would like to see is an information campaign to highlight the dangers.

 

[Sasaferrato]

Seems its usage can cause serious health problems which is surely concerning?

It is. As I said, an awareness campaign would be useful.

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

Seems its usage can cause serious health problems which is surely concerning?

Yeah, it's so dangerous they give it to women in labour.

 

[Magnus McGinty]

Banning something is the quick was to make something far more attractive to both users and those that make money / control the supply side.

Self-defeating IMHO.

Not sure it’d affect supply. It has other uses like gas and glue do.

 

[Epona]

I say this as someone who regularly does litter picking and has to deal with bin liners full of the bloody little cannisters...
Don't criminalise the people doing it.
Put the onus on the producers - some sort of taxation on the small cannisters and the large ones a more attractive purchase (the big ones are easier to deal with).
Deposit scheme so cannisters (large and small) returned will net some cash for someone - whether the people buying the stuff and currently leaving the cannisters will take them back for money off their next purchase, or people will be able to get some cash for tidying up after others (whether on an individual basis, or towards their charity or community group if they litter pick as part of an organised event).

 

[Magnus McGinty]

Yeah, it's so dangerous they give it to women in labour.

They also use diamorphine in hospitals. So what?

 

[cesare]

Yeah, it's so dangerous they give it to women in labour.

A friend of mine deliberately ended his life using nitrous as the method.

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

They also use diamorphine in hospitals. So what?

The spinal risks of Nos are fucking tiny, you have to be huffing up balloons pretty much all day every day for years if you want the risk of damage.

 

[Shippou-Sensei]

It's almost as if long term recreational use has different side effects to short term medicinal use.

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

A friend of mine deliberately ended his life using nitrous as the method.

Sure, if you take O2 out of what you breathe in then you'll die, but no one is seriously suggesting controls on Nos to stop it being used as a suicide aid, are they?

 

[Magnus McGinty]

A friend of mine deliberately ended his life using nitrous as the method.

I had a friend who did similar. Not sure what inert gas he used but it’s called an exit mask.

 

[The39thStep]

 

[Magnus McGinty]

The spinal risks of Nos are fucking tiny, you have to be huffing up balloons pretty much all day every day for years if you want the risk of damage.

Yet it’s happening. Kids see it as harmless and some end up in wheelchairs. Seems worse than necking pills for those who get fully into it.

 

[UrbaneFox]

My cousin killed himself by inhaling nitrous oxide.

No-one suspected he was suicidal. He met with various groups of friends beforehand, and no-one suspected anything.

Then he booked a room in a hotel and killed himself with nitrous oxide. His body was found by a chambermaid the following day.

Typing this, my hands are still shaking.

 

[equationgirl]

My cousin killed himself by inhaling nitrous oxide.

No-one suspected he was suicidal. He met with various groups of friends beforehand, and no-one suspected anything.

Then he booked a room in a hotel and killed himself with nitrous oxide. His body was found by a chambermaid the following day.

Typing this, my hands are still shaking.

I'm so sorry. You have my condolences, as do you cesare .

 

[poppy60]

I'm so sorry. You have my condolences, as do you cesare .

So sorry for your loss.

 

[danny la rouge]

I’m almost entirely ignorant of this phenomenon. I was surprised to hear it was enough of an issue for politicians to want to take a stance.

 

[seeformiles]

I had a friend who did similar. Not sure what inert gas he used but it’s called an exit mask.

I know what the gas is but won’t mention it here. Someone I know went out that way. He picked it as it’s the most painless way to go.

 

[Magnus McGinty]

I know what the gas is but won’t mention it here. Someone I know went out that way.

Helium, probably.

 

[seeformiles]

Helium, probably.

That’s the one.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

I’m almost entirely ignorant of this phenomenon. I was surprised to hear it was enough of an issue for politicians to want to take a stance.

If you're wandering around and see a load of tiny metal canisters on the ground, that was people (probably kids) doing nitrous. Regularly see them around my estate.

 

[emanymton]

I say this as someone who regularly does litter picking and has to deal with bin liners full of the bloody little cannisters...
Don't criminalise the people doing it.
Put the onus on the producers - some sort of taxation on the small cannisters and the large ones a more attractive purchase (the big ones are easier to deal with).
Deposit scheme so cannisters (large and small) returned will net some cash for someone - whether the people buying the stuff and currently leaving the cannisters will take them back for money off their next purchase, or people will be able to get some cash for tidying up after others (whether on an individual basis, or towards their charity or community group if they litter pick as part of an organised event).

Is the litter still as big a problem? I used to see them all over the place, now hardly see them at all.

So my first thought on this was its politicians taking urgent action long after the problem peaked and kids have moved on to something else.

 

[Epona]

If you're wandering around and see a load of tiny metal canisters on the ground, that was people (probably kids) doing nitrous. Regularly see them around my estate.

Thank you Captain Obvious
(Sorry, as I said above as a litter picker I am very familiar with the things, as I am sure are most people here)

 

[Sasaferrato]

Yeah, it's so dangerous they give it to women in labour.

Well, they did. Some hospitals have discontinued its use, due to the exposure risks to midwives.

Hospitals suspend gas and air amid fears of unsafe levels

Birthing mothers are 'paying the price' as several NHS trusts suspend pain-relieving gas and air, it has been claimed.

www.dailymail.co.uk

Hospital stops offering gas and air to pregnant women over staff safety concerns

The Princess Alexandra Hospital is the latest among a number of hospitals to suspend gas and air pain relief for pregnant women after finding high levels of nitrous oxide

www.mirror.co.uk

Essex hospital pulls gas and air for pregnant women amid concerns for staff

Entonox gas and air is safe for pregnant women but exposure to staff over long periods could pose health risk

www.theguardian.com

So, if the concentrations in exhaled air are a health risk, how do you asses the risks in inhaling pure NO2? The hospital stuff is 50/50 O2 and NO2.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

Thank you Captain Obvious
(Sorry, as I said above as a litter picker I am very familiar with the things, as I am sure are most people here)

That was a post for DLR. I was trying to be helpful. It would be easy not to know.