Children display ribbon cut-outs tied to balloons during an HIV/AIDS awareness campaign to mark World AIDS Day in Kolkata December 1, 2014. The world has finally reached "the beginning of the end" of the AIDS pandemic that has infected and kille
Children display ribbon cut-outs tied to balloons during an HIV/AIDS awareness campaign to mark World AIDS Day in Kolkata December 1, 2014. The world has finally reached "the beginning of the end" of the AIDS pandemic that has infected and killed millions in the past 30 years, according to a leading campaign group fighting HIV. United Nations data show that in 2013, 35 million people were living with HIV, 2.1 million people were newly infected with the virus and some 1.5 million people died of AIDS. By far the greatest part of the HIV/AIDS burden is in sub-Saharan Africa. REUTERS/Rupak De Chowdhuri

Ingesting laughing gas could be a sad event, the family of an 18-year-old British lad discovered on Saturday night. The unnamed youth took the laughing gas at a party in Bexley and collapsed on Wolvercote Avenue after he had cardiac arrest.

Besides taking in the laughing gas, or nitrous oxide, the youth is believed to have also drank alcohol. A post-mortem is being held to find the cause of the victim’s death, according to the Metropolitan Police who notified the boy’s relatives, reports The Telegraph.

A study published in the early part of 2015 noticed the increased use of laughing gas, also known as hippie crack, for recreation. Usually inhaled from party balloons, it gives the person who inhaled the gas a funny voice like the Chipmunks that elicits laughter during parties or in gatherings that gave it the name laughing gas.

Besides the Chipmunks-like voice, the gas also makes a person feel giggly, euphoric and relaxed, but abuse of its use could cause deprivation of oxygen, leading to a drastic drop in blood pressure, fainting and heart attacks. Dentists use it to calm young patients and is increasingly being used in hospitals too.

ABC cites the case of Cody Coleman, an 18-year-old leukemia survivor in Delaware who goes through a three-hour infusion of gamma globulin monthly because his immune system was damaged. The gamma globulin prevents infection, and hospital staff use nitrous oxide on Cody to calm him during the three-hours when he has to stare at an IV. Without nitrous oxide, he has to be restrained by his parents and the medical workers.

Cody’s mother, a dental assistant familiar with laughing gas, found Nemour/A.I DuPont hospital which has been using the laughing gas on outpatients for six years. The hospital also uses it in its cancer unit and emergency room.

Nitrous oxide could not be sold to people below 18 in England and Wales due to the risk in inhalation, but its possession is not illegal. About 7.6 percent of people in England and Wales between the ages 16 and 24 admit to trying laughing gas, said respiratory consultant and neonatal paediatrician Dr Paul Seddon who researched on nitrous oxide.

Between 2006 and 2012, 17 people died in the UK because of laughing gas. But when used properly and under supervision of medical staff, it also helps save lives.

To contact the writer, email: vittoriohernandez@yahoo.com

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