Police catch 3 teens on 15- hour ‘ laughing gas’ bender

Three teens in Suzhou, Jiangsu Province were taken into custody when police found them in a hotel room after taking nitrous oxide – also known as laughing gas – for 15 hours straight.

Police said they found the three boys in an intoxicated state surrounded by what amounted to cartons of cartridges containing the gas, media reported.

Authorities had initially responded when a friend of the teens who, after noticing the group posting unusual messages on social media, suspected they had been “beaten.”

Police said they knocked on the door to no response but noticed sounds of laughter coming from inside.

Eventually a young man answered and burst out laughing in the offi cer’s faces, read the report.

Offi cers said they entered to fi nd the other two lying on the fl oor.

Police confi scated dozens of spent and full canisters of nitrous oxide along with balloons used to ingest them.

The boys later told offi cers they had purchased the gas on e- commerce site Taobao that made them “unable to stop laughing” for 15 hours.

One of the teens, surnamed Wu, said he inhaled more than ten cartridges.

The news follows a high- profi le report in July about a Chinese student who returned to China paralyzed due to an addiction to nitrous oxide she developed while studying in the US.

The woman is now being treated at a Beijing hospital.

Used medically as an anesthetic, nitrous oxide is also a popular recreational drug, particularly among young people due to its accessibility.

Cartons containing 10 bulbs of nitrous oxide can be purchased for around 35 yuan ($ 5) on Taobao, where they are sold as chargers for whipped cream canisters.

Usually inhaled from a balloon, the gas gives a brief sensation of euphoria.

While rare, overdoses can occur. The gas inhibits oxygen from entering the bloodstream, which can lead to organ failure, brain damage or death.