The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 278 No 7443 p302
17 March 2007

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Clubs given gas warning

Nightclubs and festival organisers have been warned that they face prosecution if they sell nitrous oxide (laughing gas) for recreational inhalation because it is a pharmacy medicine. A 50 per cent mixture of nitrous oxide in oxygen is used as an analgesic in emergency ambulances, in obstetric practice and to reduce pain when changing dressings or as an aid to postoperative physiotherapy.

The warning follows an inquest into the death of a 23-year-old man who died from asphyxiation after inhaling the gas at home.

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency has warned that, apart from the immediate danger of injury caused by collapse after inhaling the gas, long-term risks include bone marrow suppression, blood cell problems and poisoning of the central nervous system. ‘Martindale: the complete drug reference’ reports the adverse effects as hypoxia, megaloblastic anaemia and peripheral neuropathy.