One of Bradford’s leading anti-laughing gas campaigners has backed further calls to end over-the-counter sales.
Nitrous Oxide (N2O), which is also known as ‘hippie crack’ and 'nitty', is a gas commonly used in the medical and catering industry.
But it is now the second most-used drug among 16 to 24-year-olds looking to get high in the UK.
Sofia Buncy MBE, national co-ordinator at the Khidmat Centre, appeared on Radio 5 Live's breakfast show to discuss how ‘hippy crack’ culture was impacting Bradford’s communities.
Mrs Buncy told the BBC: “It was something we picked back up in June 2020 during the start of the pandemic as frontline workers who were in grassroot communities saw a sudden appearance of vials everywhere.
“It felt like it was an alternative drug that was being used. Young people that we spoke to had said because they were out and about trying to meet one another or get some air, they were saying it’s cheap, it’s readily accessible.
“We did a mapping exercise in Bradford, very concerned, I think people felt the conversation was very overinflated at the time. Is this really something?
“We put a call out through our local Telegraph & Argus and said, ‘Send us your pictures’.
“It was gathering that evidence base. We said, ‘Let’s ask the community where they’re seeing it’."
Speaking about how Nitrous Oxide usage has changed, the community worker added: “Slowly these turned from the smaller vials to the bigger Nos.
“When we’ve spoken to some people they’ve said, ‘It’s just like a party in a bottle’.”
That mapping exercise got underway alongside youth worker Sharat Hussain, founder of the church-based youth centre, Mary Magdalene CiC.
Mapping Nos usage revealed how the 'party drug' was being taken "literally everywhere" in the district, according to Ms Buncy.
Meanwhile Project YouTurn, which works across the Lidget Green and Scholemoor areas, has been recording more nitrous oxide “hotspots”.
Mrs Buncy previously told the Telegraph & Argus: “There needs to be tighter restrictions at the point of sale and the reason for that is because the police have limited and restricted laws to be able to control this. It has to come from a point of sale."
Home Secretary Suella Braverman has been urged to scrap direct-to-consumer retail sales of laughing gas by The British Compressed Gases Association (BCGA).
Prolonged use of nitrous oxide can cause vitamin B12 deficiency, anaemia and nerve damage.
In the most serious cases, the use of laughing gas could lead to spinal injuries.
It is a controlled drug under the Psychoactive Substances Act 2016, making it an offence to supply the drug onto another.
Supplying Nitrous Oxide - which could even include passing their friend a canister - can lead to seven years in prison, an unlimited fine or both.
A spokeswoman for the Home Office said: “It is unlawful to supply nitrous oxide for its psychoactive effects, with offenders potentially facing a maximum sentence of seven years in prison.
“Given concerns about the use of nitrous oxide by young people, the former home secretary sought advice from the independent Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) last year. When the ACMD responds, the Government will consider the advice carefully.”
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