Laughing gas death?

Laughing gas death?

Taken from another board:-

kewie Clubbers' laughing gas craze claims its first life

Nitrous oxide branded 'hippie crack' as revellers get hooked

THE growing use of laughing gas as a recreational drug among party goers has claimed its first fatality in Britain.

Daniel Watts, a 23-year-old company director, was found dead at his home next to a large cylinder of nitrous oxide -- a drug popular among students and young professionals.

An inquest was told last month he had asphyxiated himself by excessive inhalation of the drug, which is known as "hippie crack" for its psychological addictiveness and for the euphoria it induces.

The law on the sale and use of the gas appears to be unclear. A spokeswoman for the Association of Chief Police Officers said it was not an illegal drug although its sale is controlled by legislation on medicines.

However, according to the Medicine and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency, it is illegal to sell nitrous oxide to people who intend to inhale it as a recreational drug.

The gas is used in making whipped cream and anyone over 18 can buy it if they say that they want it for culinary purposes. Possessing and inhaling it is entirely legal.

A host of internet sites sell it and nightclubs throughout Britain openly supply it to revellers. But research indicates a range of physical effects on habitual users, such as degeneration of the spinal column.

Donald Singer, professor of clinical pharmacology at Warwick University, called for warnings on containers that nitrous oxide may cause death, severe injury and long-term disability. "There needs to be an ethical debate around what you do beyond that . . . whether you say 'people will get it anyway because of its food use' or whether somehow you say 'you can only use it in licensed premises'," he said.

Medical-grade nitrous oxide is a constituent of the gas-and-air mixture used for pain relief in childbirth.

Christopher Ball, the Birmingham deputy coroner who conducted the inquest into Watts's death, recorded a narrative verdict, stating that there was no evidence he intentionally took his own life.

Watts, who helped to run a promotions company in the West Midlands, had placed a bag over his head to increase the intensity of the fumes he was inhaling. The gas, which can cause the user to lose consciousness, prevented him from breathing oxygen and he died.

The use of laughing gas has taken the club scene by storm and it is now being offered to guests at dinner parties. The London nightclub Turnmills provides a "laughing room" on some nights, selling balloons containing a single hit of gas at about #2 each.

A spokesman for the club said it would continue to provide nitrous oxide to revellers, adding: "Like other club premises, we accept its responsible use."

A wealth of companies offer nitrous oxide on the internet. One, Cream Supplies, insisted it would not sell to anyone suspected of using it for inhalation. However, under the heading "cash sales" its site posts the mobile numbers of several dealers who are not bound by the company's terms and conditions.

Some of these openly offered to sell the gas and inhalation paraphernalia, such as dispensing machines and balloons

Re: Laughing gas death?

branded by who?

Re: Laughing gas death?

for fucks sake. he had a BAG OVER HIS HEAD?!?!?!?!? he suffocated - it wasn't the gas.

once again, media hype & the nanny state at it again.

i never have touched the stuff - and don't want to. not my thing.

bags should be banned IMO

and noses. noses are definately dodgy

heads AND bags should have warning labels. and chart of their fat/salt content.

there should be a tax for this too.

I might organise a head and bag awareness course.





Gives a whole new meaning to head shops

Re: Re: Re: Laughing gas death?

People are doing it for 10 FUCKING MINUTES without a breath?!?

Evolution in action

Media why didnt they just say he committed suicide

Re: Re: Re: Re: Laughing gas death?

Deary me, some fruit is stupid enough to put a bag over his head while boffing laughing gas and the media is saying the gas did it.

I fuckin hate it when the edia mention a drug of some sort and say it's popular among young professionals. A couple of year ago it was in the paper about ket and it said the same thing.

I was nearly killed by laughing gas too.

I have a dodgy cannister, when Lee tried taking the No2 charger out it fired off and hit my nose, it was inches away from my temple or eye.

this thread is no laughing matter.

Re: Re: Laughing gas death?

Not really, he wouldn't put the bag over his head for any other reason than to inhale the gas, and he wouldn't have lost consciousness if he hadn't sucked in such a high concentration, which then rendered him unable to remove the bag...

If it was just him and the bag would he have died?

Either way, laughing gas its pretty rank stuff.. I like the bag tax idea though

Because he didn't you dumb bitch..

Re: Re: Re: Laughing gas death?

so maybe it indirectly added to the cause of his death, still didn't ACTUALLY kill him....

I spent £12.50 on laughing gas last night :cyber: