LAUGHING GAS NO JOKE: POLICE

It is known as laughing gas but the trend by Invercargill's young to
get a quick high from nitrous oxide canisters was no joke, police and
medical professionals said yesterday.

Invercargill raid squad member Constable Todd Utteridge said packets
of the 10cm-high Hungarian-made canisters were being bought mostly by
students and teenagers.

"They're using them as a party drug. The high lasts about 10 minutes
(from each canister)."

The canisters were sold in packets of 10 and were supposed to be used
for whipping cream or in soda siphons.

However, they were sold in stores that did not sell the cream bomb
canisters to go with them, Mr Utteridge said.

"Anyone using these things on a commercial basis is going to go to a
wholesaler, not a corner dairy, to get them."

An Invercargill dairy owner told him the nitrous oxide canisters were
sold mainly on Friday or Saturday nights, Mr Utteridge said.

The dairy owner was unable to be reached for comment
yesterday.

Mr Utteridge said nitrous oxide was used in
dentistry and anaesthesia but it was mixed with air and was not 100
percent pure laughing gas like those being sold.

Police had found large quantities of empty canisters in Invercargill
outside the Feldwick Gates, where it was believed they were used by
boy racers.

An incident in Nelson in February highlighted the dangers of nitrous
oxide use by drivers.

A 20-year-old man drove a car containing five people into a river
minutes after inhaling the gas. The driver, who was said to have gone
"stiff and quiet" seconds before the car plunged into the river, was
killed.

The canisters could not be sold to people under 18 in Australia but
there was no such law in New Zealand, Mr Utteridge said.

However, an Invercargill City Council bylaw meant police could
prosecute anyone for solvent abuse. If convicted, they faced a fine of
$500.

There had yet to be any convictions under the bylaw for those inhaling
nitrous oxide, Mr Utteridge said.

Rhanna Clinic nurse Allan Travis said short-term effects of using pure
nitrous oxide included immediate loss of motor control and
disorientation.

Anyone using more than one canister a session would develop fixations,
Mr Travis said.

"They'll go into a dream state and be well within themselves.

The driver (killed in Nelson) was in one of those states and is likely
to have taken three or four (canisters) before the accident."

Those who used it on a regular basis risked brain disorders, numbness
in their hands and feet, and lung damage, Mr Travis said.

There had been no recorded deaths from long-term nitrous oxide use in
New Zealand but it was believed some had occurred overseas.

Mr Travis said he ran education programmes in schools about the
dangers of drug abuse and was sent people "every day" on court-ordered
substance-abuse programmes but he declined to say whether any nitrous
oxide abusers had been referred to him.