‘Cream chargers’ whip up storm as new recreational drug of choice Small silver gas canisters litter streets as catering suppliers face unusual demand
THE latest drug craze has spawned a bizarre cottage industry... in whipped cream makers.
Since laughing gas has become the fashionable high at pop festivals, more and more individuals are peddling “cream chargers” because they are filled with nitrous oxide gas, or ‘NOS’.
The chargers are legal and have become the drug paraphernalia of choice for those attending mass pop gatherings.
Marijuana butts and beer cans once littered the ground at rock festivals but now the floor glistens with laughing gas chargers or “whippers”.
The scale of the problem was highlighted at the V Festival in Weston Park, Staffordshire, in 2015 when a staggering 17,000 nitrous oxide canisters were seized.
Balloons filled with the gas are also sold at festivals for as little as £2.
“These dangerous drugs have already cost far too many lives,” the Home Office said. “The government will take whatever action is necessary to keep our families and communities safe.”
Fatalities remain low for now. There have been fewer than 20 in the period from 2006 to the present day. Yet Home Office figures show that in 2014 alone, 470,000 people indulged. In 2018, that figure will be much higher.
The sudden spike in sales has prompted legitimate catering companies – flooded with requests from young party-goers – to publish warnings such as “Use responsibly” and “Must be over 18”.
They are strange alerts ostensibly making cakes.
Legitimate catering equipment suppliers Cream Chargers Birmingham has now introduced safeguards to prevent their items being misused.
“We are culinary suppliers, we do the due diligence,” said a spokesman. “We ask for ages and what they need the chargers for.
“But the reality is the vast majority buy online – they can get them at the press of a button.
“I think a lot of chancers now see it as a way to make a quick buck.”
The web is now clogged with advertisements for cream chargers.
A box of “100 per cent pure nitrous oxide cream chargers” is on offer in the Walsall area for £10, although there is no suggestion that the seller is offering the packs for recreational drug use.
Internet sales site eBay is littered with ads for cream chargers, and the majority carry disclaimers. One for those warns: “Our sale of nitrous oxide cream chargers are solely for use for their intended purpose, the preparation of food and beverages. Over 18s only: Cream Chargers are not for sale to under 18s.”
The laughing gas – also known as hippy crack – is prepared for use with the use of balloons and induces a sense of euphoria that is short-lived, with 90 seconds considered a long “rush”.
Type in “nos” on the websites, and the offers become less innocent. The Post was immediately offered:
“Red nos laughing gas dispenser. Perfect for birthday parties, festivals. Only £7.”
“Same day delivery – cream chargers, whippers, canisters, balloons, laughing gas...”
One Twitter account for a party balloon business features scantilyclad revellers, seemingly inhaling drugs.
The popularity of the craze is highlighted by a Facebook site titled “Birmingham Uni NOS/Gas Balloons”. The blurb pledges: “Call now for your party pack” and “We are delivering party packs all weekend till 6am.”
Online vendors stress that their chargers are only to be used to whip cream, but reviews suggest a much darker use.
One states: “Quality product, I ordered on a Friday. Chargers were meant to come on Tuesday but arrived on the next day. Good laugh with mates at a festival… er, I mean in the kitchen, whipping cream.”
But those making a mint from laughing gas may soon be laughing on the other side of their face.
In a recent landmark ruling, senior judges deemed the sale of nitrous oxide illegal.
In a vital test case, lawyers for four men caught in possession of nitrous oxide canisters insisted they could not be guilty of any crime.
The gas, first synthesised in 1772, had been used for centuries as a painkiller by dentists and doctors during childbirth, they argued.
Party and festival-goers are more interested in its “euphoric” effects, but that does not stop it being a med- icine, the Court of Appeal was told. Canisters found on the four men were of the catering type and that was “a strong indicator that they were not medicinal products,” said the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Burnett.
They were supplied to punters for “purely recreational” purposes and their use was certainly not “beneficial to health”, he added.
“The purpose for which it was intended to supply the canisters was purely recreational with nothing whatsoever to do with health,” said the judge. “The gas was intended to be used in circumstances which were not beneficial to health, and indeed import some risk to health.”
The judge ruled the canisters fell “outside the definition of medicinal product whatever label may have been on the boxes in which they were originally packed”.
Mr Justice Openshaw and Mr Justice Dingemanns came to the conclusion that all four appeals should be dismissed.
The laws surrounding nitrous oxide had been at best cloudy, at worst a muddle.
A Home Office spokesman said: “Nitrous oxide is covered by the Psychoactive Substances Act and is illegal to supply for its psychoactive effect.
“However, the act provides exemption for medical products.” an