It’s a product unintentionally tailor-made for underage abuse: easy to use and available in a variety of flavors like mango smoothie and vanilla cupcake. It’s plentiful, inexpensive, produces a quick, euphoric high and you don’t have to be 21, or know a dealer, to get it.
In fact, the product — nitrous oxide, or laughing gas, the active ingredient in commercial whipped-cream canisters — is as close as a computer keyboard, or the neighborhood Walmart.
The hot new high among young people is huffing N2O products manufactured by Galaxy Gas, an Atlanta-based company that sells whipped-cream chargers to wholesalers and restaurants, as well as grocery and convenience stores.
Videos of teens and young adults doing “whippets” — inhaling dessert-flavored gas from palm-sized canisters to get high — have gone viral on social media. While youth using whipped-cream cans for a cheap thrill is nothing new, critics compare the current problem to the youth vaping epidemic of the early 2010s, pointing to Galaxy Gas’s enticing packaging, kid-friendly flavors and social-media cachet.
“Help These Kids”
The problem has become so acute that popular singer-songwriter Sza is sounding the alarm.
“Yes .. I’m aware whippits have been around since we were younger,” she says. “GALAXY GAS however was founded in 2021 in metro Atlanta and is currently being marketed to CHILDREN. It has childlike branding and marketing and being sold at Walmart and gas stations like cigarettes .. that’s not normal. Stop being dense and HELP THESE KIDS. Hell.”
Although Galaxy Gas argues that its products aren’t sold or marketed for personal use, it has halted sales of the canisters in an abundance of caution.
The charger is a nitrous oxide-filled, stainless-steel cartridge that transforms the cream and other ingredients into a flavored whipped topping. But when it’s empty, the charger dispenses only nitrous oxide.
A multipurpose gas primarily found in hospitals and dentists’ offices, nitrous oxide is regularly used as a powerful anesthetic. Dentists and surgeons often administer it to patients facing extreme pain from surgery; even women giving birth have benefited from it.
Its culinary use includes adding a topping to cold brew coffees, desserts, and other foods.
But it’s also used as a makeshift recreational drug among teenagers and younger adults in North America, Europe and Australia.
Social Media Influence
According to the United Nations’ 2023 World Drug Report, NO2 misuse has been rising since 2017. Forbes Magazine reports that around 13 million Americans aged 12 or older have misused nitrous oxide, according to a 2019 survey by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.
A 2022 report found that 70% of people who misused the substance were between 16 and 24, and its use consecutively decreased as the age groups increased, according to Forbes.
N2O intoxication can cause disorientation, loss of balance, impaired memory and cognition, and weakness in the legs. This can lead to accidents like tripping and falling and fatal accidents have been reported due to hypoxia, which is a dangerous condition that occurs when the body’s tissues don’t have enough oxygen. Symptoms include confusion, rapid breathing, bluish or off-colored skin, and difficulty breathing.
While abusing nitrous oxide isn’t believed to be addictive, there isn’t much clinical research on the issue.
Despite Galaxy Gas’s disclaimer, a quick review of social media platforms TikTok, Instagram, and X, formerly known as Twitter, shows a plethora of teens and young people doing whippets from the company’s canisters.
“For Responsible Culinary Use Only“
At the same time, it’s easy to see how Galaxy Gas’s marketing draws in young people. Like vaping products, Galaxy Gas comes in bright packaging, with fruity flavors like tropical punch and watermelon. There’s even a half pint dispenser available in “rasta color” at Walmart.
The Galaxy Gas website has a pop-up disclaimer telling visitors the product’s intended use and makes visitors click a button saying they understand and accept the company’s guidance. By clicking “yes,” visitors also agree not to take legal action against vendors selling the product.
“Galaxy Gas products are for responsible culinary use only,” according to a pop-up disclaimer on the company’s website. “We are deeply concerned about the recent news reports and social media posts of individuals illegally misusing our products.”
If you or someone you know is misusing a nitrous oxide product, call or text the Crisis Lifeline at 988 for assistance connecting with substance abuse resources.
