Nitrous oxide as a drug for young people: health hazard from the cartridge

2024-01-11 16:33:41

This is now the seventh young patient that neurologist Volker Limmroth has treated within two months. One of them will probably be dependent on a wheelchair for life, another will not be able to walk normally again, even after weeks of rehabilitation. Limmroth is chief physician at the neurology clinic in Cologne-Merheim, and the patients – all young adults – were admitted because of severe nerve damage caused by the party drug laughing gas. “In my 34-year career as a neurologist, I have never seen young patients with these symptoms, and now they are increasing,” says Limmroth.

According to the 2021 Global Drug Survey, which asked 32,022 people worldwide about their drug use, almost one in five people have used nitrous oxide. It is not known exactly how many people consume it in Germany. In the drug trend study from Frankfurt from 2022, one in six teenagers between the ages of 15 and 18 said they had already tried it, and more than one in sixteen are currently using it. The European Drug Authority EMCDDA warned of a growing problem a year ago. She justified this, among other things, by the fact that side effects caused by laughing gas are being reported more and more frequently in medical journals.