Nitrous Oxide: Laugh at Your Own Risk

Professionals administer nitrous oxide (N₂O) as an anesthetic, but people also inhale it recreationally for a brief, disorienting high. The short durations of this dissociative experience spur repeated uses, easily leading to abuse. Nitrous may be fun in the moment, but some pretty bad health issues present themselves not long after. 

Why Do People Consume Nitrous?

Medical and dental professionals use nitrous oxide to sedate patients during procedures, creating a calm, euphoric effect. Dentists use a mixture of the gas as a quick way to sedate and relax patients, especially people with anxiety issues. The effects take hold in 1-2 minutes, and there is a very low risk when handled by professionals. 

Nitrous at Parties and Concert Tailgates

Recreational users have hijacked these medical purposes to get high. N₂O is popular as a party favor and a staple in some concert parking lot scenes. Some music fans enjoy nitrous oxide while tailgating and having a few beers with friends before or after the show to share the somewhat mind-numbing phenomenon. Others just sit on the couch at home and ingest it repeatedly, frittering the entire day away on the drug. 

Consumers Find Nitrous Is Euphoric & Disassociative 

Nitrous oxide creates an immediate head change for several minutes. Its dissociative effects make consumers detached from their sense of self, alongside feelings of euphoria and confusion. Body parts and nerve endings tingle with excitement, while a sense of calm slowly starts to retreat, bringing consumers back to full consciousness after a few minutes, ready for the next hit. 

How Do People Consume Nitrous?

Nitrous is consumed recreationally in several different forms. Each method is unique in its particular dispensing process. Some methods are more accessible than others, with new delivery methods making it easier than ever to get high. 

Pressurized Nitrous Tanks

Pressurized gas suppliers distribute large pressurized nitrous tanks to medical and dental facilities. Some states have more lenient laws regarding nitrous, so very often these tanks can be obtained by anyone off the street. 

A knob on the tank dispenses the gas; however, the pressurization of the tank causes the dispensing valve to reach a very low, freezing temperature. Putting your mouth on the valve can instantly cause frostbite, freezing your airway, and cutting off oxygen. 

The workaround is to dispense the gas into a balloon or attach a hose. Balloons are easily attachable to the valve and hold the nitrous considerably well until the consumer takes an inhale from it. 

Whipped cream chargers 

Nitrous oxide whips cream into a light, airy texture. The force of the gas whips the cream directly, creating a delicate and light yet delicious and fancy result. Chefs and restaurants use whipped cream chargers—small single-use cartridges also known as ‘whippets’—to do so. 

These cartridges are sold at culinary supply stores, but many head shops, smoke shops, and online retailers also sell them. Consumers insert the cartridges into a dispenser, or what’s known as a ‘cracker’, a small metal device that holds and dispenses N₂O directly into a balloon. This delivery method is dangerous due to its pressurized, freezing temperatures that also don’t jibe with direct oral ingestion. 

Cannisters

Canisters are the latest way people ingest N₂O. Brands known as ‘Galaxy Gas’ manufacture handheld canisters of N₂O, sometimes with flavoring added. Consumers inhale through a mouthpiece fitted onto various canister sizes, avoiding frostbite. 

Each size has its own capacity, providing anywhere from 50–300 highs from one canister. Galaxy Gas is a particular brand that is everywhere on social media platforms like TikTok, furthering its dangerous popularity with younger generations. 

Why Is Nitrous Oxide So Dangerous?

Serious side effects—sometimes temporary, often permanent—can begin as soon as the giggly high fades. There were 1240 attributable deaths from 2010–2023 in the U.S. caused by N₂O poisoning, according to researchers. 

The rate at which these deaths occurred increased by 578% since 2010, a truly significant statistic. Mortality rates likely increased due to better availability and affordability in the marketplace. Other side effects besides the ultimate one—death—should also be called out. 

Nitrous Abuse Can Lead to Brain Damage

Researchers in one study examined patients who consumed nitrous anywhere from one month all the way up to an entire year. All subjects showed acute or subacute neurological symptoms as a result of nitrous. These issues include sensory dysfunction, motor ability weakness, and lack of muscle coordination. Other patients showed signs of encephalopathy—a condition that affects brain functions, while others demonstrated slow reflexes, issues walking correctly, and sensory weakness. 

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B-12 Deficiencies and Related Nerve Damage

B-12 is a vitamin that assists humans with a multitude of daily functions—producing red blood cells, creating DNA/RNA, and maintaining nerve cells by protecting them from harm. Nitrous oxide blocks the body’s ability to absorb vitamin B12.

Harmful effects as a result include nerve damage, balance issues, memory issues, as well as other severe cognitive functioning issues. The impairment of red blood cells also leads to chronic fatigue, pale skin, and shortness of breath. 

Numbness and tingling in the hands and feet are also very common in prolonged nitrous abuse. A condition known as Subacute Combined Degeneration (SACD) affects the spinal cord, causing said numbness, and at its most extreme, burning and loss of sensation in the extremities. 

Cardiovascular Risks

Inhaling nitrous replaces oxygen in the lungs with gas. Prolonged deprivation can lead to low levels of oxygen in the brain, as well as lower breathing to the point of passing out. 

Brain damage, as well as asphyxiation that can lead to death, are definitely heavy risks when consuming large quantities of nitrous for an extended period of time. Homocysteine levels increase from nitrous oxide, damaging blood vessels and potentially leading to cardiovascular diseases. 

Fainting & Fishing Out

Low levels of oxygen in the brain and lungs are never a good thing. Reduced oxygen to the brain can cause you to black out mid-hit, fall, and suffer serious head injuries. Deaths caused by nitrous aren’t always on the biological level—they’re also tied to blackout-related falls and seizures. The term ‘fishing out’ is often used by nitrous users in relation to the flapping fish out of water type movements that accompany blacking out or seizures. 

Addiction to Gas

Nitrous is no different than any other drug, with its addictive qualities that can quickly lead to very bad health. The instant reward of a nitrous high practically begs the already susceptible human mind for more immediately after the first hit. 

Consumers looking to take a trip to another place love the instant sedation of a nitrous high. The fact is that nitrous is usually in large supply whenever it makes an appearance. Get-togethers with products like a 50-pack of cartridges, a 20 lb tank, or a canister holding several hundred hits of N₂O mean people are going to get high more than once. This exposure can lead to dependency on the easily accessible, altered state of the nitrous high. 

Environmental Concerns

Some folks who indulge in nitrous aren’t the most environmentally conscious. Partygoers often toss latex balloons on the ground after use faster than a losing lottery ticket—creating litter and harming wildlife. Latex can take several years to decompose, while also harming wildlife. The same goes for used whippet cartridges—oftentimes, they’re just thrown right onto the ground with no concern. 

Black Market Nitrous Mafia

Festival and jamband fans all know the ‘nitrous mafia’. These loosely organized groups are part of a larger crime operation that illegally sells nitrous balloons—nicknamed ‘ice cold fatties’—in the parking lots pre- and post-show. Nitrous mafia vendors often claim their tanks contain ‘medical-grade’ nitrous, but that claim is usually just a selling point. 

These crews aggressively hawk balloons at steep prices that often make their efforts very lucrative in comparison to the low overall cost of the tanks. Violence from these crews sometimes also accompanies the chaotic commotion and loud sounds of a hissing nitrous tank dishing out balloons for about $10 apiece. 

Depression and Psychosis

Neurological effects and related prolonged nitrous oxide consumption are well-documented; however, the psychiatric effects aren’t so much. Psychosis is another potential side effect of nitrous oxide abuse due to the addictive and dissociative nature of the drug. 

READ: The Nitrous Fad and Shifting Cultural Perceptions of Psychedelics

Preventative Measures to Reduce Harm

A balloon here or there can potentially be a good time, just know what you’re getting into so as not to turn into a pile of human mush. The best way to mitigate the destruction that acute and prolonged recreational nitrous consumption can lead to is abstinence. 

B12 Repletion

Some researchers find that early management of nitrous oxide’s ill health effects can help reverse them. Clinicians treated one patient’s B12 deficiency with daily intramuscular injections for a month, followed by regular maintenance doses. The patient regained the ability to feel sensation in the limbs and walk properly again following treatment combined with physical therapy. 

Space Out Doses

You don’t have to do the entire tank or box of Whippets just because they’re in front of you. Take your time and don’t do the nitrous version of chainsmoking cigarettes with them by doing another. Space out the times you’re going to inhale nitrous to ensure you don’t overload your brain and nervous system all at once, potentially leading to adverse health effects or blacking out. 

Sit Down for God’s Sake!

Speaking of blacking out, if you’re going to do nitrous, please sit down! Consumers should sit on a stable surface before inhaling to prevent getting as high as Icarus and then crashing hard on the floor, ground, or pavement due to a sudden loss of balance.

Save yourself the medical bills, bloody scabs, and cracked skull by simply taking a seat while ingesting and experiencing the drug. Consumers who know the risks and potential damage that nitrous oxide can cause realize that it’s no laughing matter.