Laughing gas: Kids as young as 12 presenting with medical issues

A total of 209 addiction treatment cases involving nitrous oxide use were recorded during four-year period. 

Nitrous oxide has a number of industrial and medical uses. When mixed with air (50/50 gas and air) it is used as an anaesthetic for pain-relief in dentistry and child birth.

It is a colourless gas that some say is slightly sweet smelling and tasting. It can be found in different forms such as in whipped cream chargers ‘whippets’ which are small silver cartridges. It can also come in large canisters used to fill balloons.

Nitrous oxide is often categorised as a ‘depressant’, ‘dissociative’ or ‘inhalant’ type drug because of its effects and how it is consumed. A depressant drug is one that slows the body down. A dissociative type drug has effects which causes disconnect or detachment from the body and surroundings. Some users have ended up needing wheelchairs due to spinal cord damage.

Sinn Fein's Mark Ward says "unscrupulous drug dealers" are buying cannisters in bulk and selling them on the street for as little as 10 to 12 euro.

"They're being sold to mainly young people, and we've seen the evidence there that the people that are presenting to the addiction centres and hospitals are mainly young people," Ward told JOE.

"People are playing Russian roulette every time they use nitrous oxide.

"We have children as young as 12 who are accessing the Clondalkin service, looking for help, this is only the tip of the iceberg. These are the only the young people that have come to the attention of services."

“I have been raising this since 2020 and introduced my own legislation to regulate its sale to legitimate uses only. This is similar to what was introduced in Holland.

“It was disappointing when the government voted to delay this legislation by nine months, especially given the fact that they have not taken their own steps to tackle this issue."

RCSI research published on 14 cases in Beaumont Hospital, between 2021 and 2024, show instances of spinal cord damage following nitrous oxide misuse.

The number of treatment cases where nitrous oxide use was recorded increased each year, rising from 30 in 2022 to 69 in 2025.

There were 54 cases in 2023 and 56 in 2024 before the figure increased again last year.

The figures include cases where nitrous oxide was recorded either as the main problem drug or as an additional problem drug.

The largest number of recorded cases were in the Dublin and North East and Dublin and Midlands HSE regions.

Trevor Bissell from Clondalkin Drug and Alcohol Task Force says the drug has been normalised.

"We started seeing nitrous oxide use since mainly since around COVID time. So 2019, 2020, we start seeing it emerge in like little clusters of silver bullets in in parks generally," he said.

"It's incredibly normalised. It's and it's very worrying. Everywhere you go, you'll see them discarded on the streets, in parks, in outside community centres, and that's creating a really negative social norm for any young person that's seeing it you know so it's incredibly widespread.

"I drove from here to Tallaght, and just coming down the the road in the other direction was a person driving a car with a balloon in his mouth, that attests to how normal it's becoming."

The drug has skyrocketed in popularity in the UK in the last number of years and now Ireland is facing the same problems. Even former England player Raheem Sterling was charged with dangerous driving and possession of nitrous oxide after a crash involving a Lamborghini on the motorway.

Dublin City Council has reported a 490% increase in nitrous oxide cannisters being collected by clean up crews. The drug, primarily used for sedation in medical and dental procedures as well as industrial applications like catering, can cause serious spinal injuries and even death when misused.

Official records show that 56 deaths involving nitrous oxide were registered in England and Wales between 2001 and 2020.

A number of recommendations contained in the final report from the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Drugs Use refer to nitrous oxide.

A spokesperson for the Department of Health told JOE: "The Department of Health is currently engaging with other Government Departments and State agencies to determine whether nitrous oxide could be controlled as part of the Misuse of Drugs Act.

"Given the wide range of legitimate uses of this substance all legislative options are being comprehensively examined to determine the most appropriate path forward. The evidence on the risk to public health by the misuse of nitrous oxide is a priority concern in these considerations."