Children ‘playing Russian roulette’ with nitrous oxide

13 youngsters hospitalised with ‘frostbite’ after taking killer ‘hippy crack’

CHILDREN are ‘playing Russian roulette’ by taking legal nitrous oxide, with politicians demanding new legislation to make it more difficult for young people to get their hands on it.

It comes as a Dublin hospital warned of severe cases of frostbite linked to its use, with youngsters using the gas – known as laughing gas or ‘hippy crack’ – as a legal high.

In the last ten months, Children’s Health Ireland at Crumlin recorded 13 young people presenting with frostbite.

The gas is stored as a liquid which can spill on hands and legs causing ‘painful injuries’ and ‘deforming scars’, said Consultant Paediatric Surgeon Dr Catherine de Blacam, who is pleading with younger people not to use the gas as they risk serious brain damage.

‘We have seen a number of teenagers who are using nitrous oxide for recreation and as part of the process where they’re inhaling it,’ Dr de Blacam told RTÉ News.

‘It has to be transferred from a canister into a balloon and the process of doing that cools the canister and the solution to really low temperatures (as low as -50C). There’s a tendency to delay in presentation because obviously by the nature of the injures, it’s a sort of, I guess, an illicit thing that these kids are doing and they might not want to let their parents know.

‘They often end up presenting late in a compromised condition already… If patients present late, they’re more susceptible to the wounds becoming colonised with bacteria, which can potentially lead to them being systemically unwell, or the wounds progressing without the correct care.’ Sinn Féin TD Mark Ward said: ‘We’ve reports of young people getting them on Snapchat, we’ve young people getting them through TikTok, we’ve got people getting them online left, right and centre.’ He said evidence of its use can be seen across the country with the small silver bullet-shaped canisters discarded across local parks and other areas. ‘They’re discarded everywhere – whatever rules are out there, they’re not working,’ he said. The gas, which is used in many food products, has become a popular social media trend. Mr Ward has said legislation he is bringing before the Oireachtas would regulate the sale of nitrous oxide more but would not criminalise users.

He explained: ‘It’s a very grey area so there doesn’t seem to be any regulation whatsoever. It does come under the Misuse of Solvents… but outside of that there is very little control. The plan is to regulate it so it will stop the sale of it so easily online, so it will stop the young people getting their hands on it.’

In June 2020, the parents of 15year-old Alex Ryan-Morrissey spoke out about the dangers of the gas after their son was found ‘slumped over the wall of a house’ in Ballycullen, in Tallaght, after taking the substance.

His mother Áine said after his death: ‘I’ll probably die of a broken heart.’ A Department of Health spokesman said the gas falls under the definition of a psychoactive substance and a solvent. They added: ‘Section 3 of the Criminal Justice (Psychoactive Substances Act) 2010 states a person who sells a psychoactive substance knowing or being reckless as to whether that substance is being acquired or supplied for human consumption shall be guilty of an offence.’

They said the Department of Health and the HSE continue to monitor the use of nitrous oxide and to tailor targeted messages to address its use.

‘It’s a very grey area’