Once, during my university years, I came home to our Manhattan apartment to find my roommates had laid in a large supply of canned whipped cream. Not seeing any strawberries, I quickly realized they were more interested in the gas than the cream. Back then, and to this day, manufacturers have used nitrous oxide as the propellant in these products. While not minimizing the dumbness of this youthful adventure, I am grateful that the four guys in that apartment survived the experience and went on to become a doctor, a lawyer, a TV news anchor, and, yes, a professor.
A lot has changed in the intervening decades.
I’m sure one of my roomies, or maybe several, had to screw up considerable courage to buy all that whipped cream at the local bodega. An online grocery app just allowed me to order 11 400-gram cans of Dairyland whipped cream for next-day delivery to my home in Calgary with no delivery charge. Of course, I didn’t go through with it.
But why bother with all that dairy product when you can just get the gas? Amazon.ca offers a 640-gram food grade 99.95 per cent pure nitrous oxide canister for $54.98, with nary a warning about possible health dangers. There are also plenty of U.S.-based websites that sell “whippets,” which are an “8-gram charge of 100% pure nitrous oxide,” and happily ship them to Canadian addresses, dutifully charging GST or HST. They all claim it’s for making whipped cream.
One especially trendy brand, Galaxy Gas, even flavours the nitrous oxide, a process that most chefs say would make it useless for culinary purposes. To get to their website, which I won’t name here, you do have to agree that “By purchasing products containing nitrous oxide, you expressly agree and warrant your possession and use shall be legally compliant and strictly limited to culinary food preparation as lawfully intended and for no other purpose.” There’s a lot of wink wink nudge nudge going on here.
Another difference from my college days is that we didn’t have social media back then. Now, TikTok, YouTube and X (formerly Twitter) have many videos showing cool-looking people inhaling nitrous oxide. They are pretty boring since the gas inhalers generally pass out, though in one case, a guy falls backward down a flight of stairs. All this has led one YouTube commentator, Andy King, who has 325K followers and a pretty level head, to call Galaxy Gas “TikTok’s Most Dangerous Trend.”
Nitrous oxide has been around for centuries and certainly has a place as an anesthetic in dental and certain surgical procedures. It’s the so-called “laughing gas”; though most people don’t laugh, they just stop feeling pain and may get somewhat euphoric. It’s that effect that recreation users are seeking.
However, a recent article in the Journal of Addictive Diseases reported “three cases of nitrous oxide misuse causing severe, symptomatic cobalamin (vitamin B12) deficiency”. Other effects may include burns to the throat, face, nose, lips and tongue due to the cold temperature of the gas. Serious neurological effects have also been reported, along with heart palpitations and memory loss. There have also been reports of bowel and bladder problems and sexual dysfunction caused by nitrous oxide use.
Because of the dangers, the U.K. government made the possession of nitrous oxide for recreational purposes a criminal offence in England and Wales in late 2023. In Canada, it is classified as a controlled substance under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act. Possession, sale, and distribution for recreational purposes are prohibited. However, the loophole for culinary use is pretty gaping. A person might get into trouble if they buy a large quantity, especially from outside Canada, but as long as they claim to be frothing whipped cream, the law seems pretty toothless.
Cyrille De Halleux and David N. Juurlink of the University of Toronto did an excellent survey article on nitrous oxide, published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal in 2023. They note that “The true prevalence of recreational nitrous oxide use in Canada is unknown. However, 10% of all respondents and 15% of Canadian respondents to the 2021 Global Drug Survey reported having used nitrous oxide in the preceding year.” Several sources claim that the practice is more prevalent in males than in females. They speculate that guys are more likely to engage in risk-taking behaviour.
While abuse of nitrous oxide affects all ages, many studies show that youth, and increasingly young teens, are the main users, often in a club environment. Since young people often have a strong interest in the environment, it’s worth pointing out that nitrous oxide is a potent greenhouse gas, with a global warming potential almost 300 times that of carbon dioxide. Perhaps caring for the planet may resonate with them even more than caring for their bodies.
Tom Keenan is an award-winning journalist, public speaker, professor in the School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape at the University of Calgary, and author of the best-selling book Technocreep: The Surrender of Privacy and the Capitalization of Intimacy.