As nitrogen oxide became deadly – but legal

Nitrogen oxide – known as “laughter of gas” – has a lot of uses: from painkillers during dental procedures to a beaten agent for a canned whipped cream.

While its euphoric side effects have long been known, the lifting of Vaping helped to create the perfect gas vehicle – and the ideal recipe for addiction, experts warn.

Meg’s death was inevitable.

Florida’s horse rider started using nitric oxide at the university eight years ago. But like many young people, she began to use more during the pandemic.

The youngest of the four sisters, she was a “light of our lives,” said her sister Kathlein Dil.

But the use of Ms. Koldwell continued to grow, to the fact that her dependence “began to manage her life.”

She temporarily lost her feet after an overdose, which also made her an incident. However, she continued to use, buying it at local smoke shops, inhaling it at the car park, and then heading right to the store to buy more. Sometimes she spent hundreds of dollars a day.

She died last November in one of these parking near Vape.

“She didn’t think it would hurt her because she was buying it in a smoke store, so she thought she used this substance legally,” said Ms Dil.

The progression of addiction Ms. Caldwell-Ad jungle abuse to life-threatening is increasingly common. On the annual report of the US poisonous centers, it was found that the US had an increase in the intentional impact of nitric oxide in the United States since 2023-2024.

In the worst case, inhalation of nitric oxide can lead to hypoxia, where the brain does not receive enough oxygen. This can lead to death. Regular inhalation can also lead to vitamin B12 deficiency, which can damage the nerve, spine degradation and even paralysis. The number of deaths related to nitric oxide poisoning increased by more than 110% between 2019 and 2023, according to the centers for the control and prevention of the disease.

The possession of nitrogen oxide was criminally criminal in the UK in 2023 after misuse among the young people who increased during the pandemic. But while many states have also banned the recreational use of the product in the US, selling as a culinary product is still legally. Only Louisiana completely banned the retail sales of gas.

Galactic gas, a large manufacturer, even offers recipes of dishes, including chicken Satai with foam from peanut chili and a watermelon gazpacho on its site. With flavors such as blue raspberries or strawberries and cream, experts warn this gap – as well as serious changes in the packaging and retail – contributed to growth in the wrong use.

Until recently, users take disposable metal canisters, weighing about 8 g and inhale gas with a balloon. But when the use of nitrogen oxide producers began to sell much larger canisters on the Internet – up to 2 kg – and, in the end, in stores selling electronic LAPs and other smoking paraphernalia.

Companies also started packing gas into bright colorful canisters with designs involving characters from computer games and television series.

Pat Ausse, partnership to stop addiction, suggests that these events stand for an increase in misuse:

“Even called Galaxy Gas or Miami Magic is a marketing,” she said. “If you have big canisters, it means more people can try it and use it, and it can lead to a lot of peers’ pressure.”

The BBC addressed the comments to both Galaxy GAS and Miami magic but did not receive a response. Amazon, where gas is sold on the Internet, said they know that customers abuse nitrogen oxide and that they are working to implement further security measures. In response to the CBS News report, a BBC news partner in the US, Galaxy Gas claimed that gas is designed for culinary use and that they include a message on their not -use sites.

Concerns of nitrogen abuse increased last year after a few videos used by the product.

In the social media videos exposed to high gas became a tendency. In a video loaded in July 2024, a fast food restaurant in Atlanta was a young man who inhales strawberries and cream flavored nitrogen oxide, saying, “My name is Lil T, man,” his voice made deeper from gas. To date, the clip has been viewed about 40 million times and gave rise to thousands of copies.

The abuse is also largely presented in the TWITCH rap and translation. The guests tried this on the Joe Rogan show, and rappers, including Ye (formerly Kanye West), talked about abuse of the substance publicly. Since then, you have sued your dentist for “reckless”, supplying “a dangerous amount of nitrogen”.

In response to the trend, the curiosity blocked the search for “gas gas” and redirected users to the message offering resources about the use of substances and addiction. The SZA rapper also warned his social media followers about his harm and crashed for “was provided with mass sales to black children.”

In March, the nutrition and medicine administration (FDA) issued an official warning about gas -breathing after “there was an increase in reports of adverse phenomena after inhaling nitric oxide products.”

The FDA reported the BBC that it “continues to actively monitor the adverse phenomena associated with the abuse of nitrogen oxide, and will take appropriate measures to protect public health.”

But for some, these warnings came too late.

In 2023, the 25-year-old woman Marisa Polita successfully sued a nitrogen distributor United Brands for $ 745 million after the radiological technician was killed by a driver high for nitrogen oxide. The jury found the company responsible for the sale of the product, knowing that it is abused.

“Marisa’s death did not have to happen in the first place, but my God, it must be the last,” said Johnny Simon, a lawyer of the Polit family. During the years, there have been several deadly traffic accidents related to gas in both the US and UK.

Meanwhile, the family of Ms. Caldwell has launched a lawsuit against producers and distributors of nitrogen oxide, hoping to remove the product from retail sales in the US forever.

“People who manage nitrogen oxide in the dentist should take hours and hours of training, she said.

“Unfortunately, it became very obvious that manufacturers and owners of smoke shops are not going to do a moral business and remove it from the shelves,” said Ms Dil.