Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
COMMUNITY DRUG ACTIVISTS have warned that the use of nitrous oxide has become more widespread during the Covid-19 lockdown.
There has been a spike in the amount of drug litter connected to nitrous oxide being discovered in Irish parks in recent weeks, according to a number of local representatives.
Much of the debris is in the form of small gas cylinders which had contained nitrous oxide, also known as laughing gas or hippie crack, which is a legal gas.
The drug is also suspected as being connected to the death of a 15-year-old Dublin teenager last month.
Laughing gas has already been banned in a number of countries in Europe.
According to TalktoFrank, a website which provides information about drugs, inhaling nitrous oxide directly from a canister is very dangerous because the gas is under such high pressure. It can cause a spasm of the throat muscle and cause the user to stop breathing.
Janet Robinson, the research and training officer for the Blanchardstown Local Drug and Alcohol Task Force, described how there has been an increased use of nitrous oxide over the last two years.
She added that the current pandemic has resulted in a “cannabis drought” which has led to teenagers drinking more. The availability of this drug, mixed with an increase in drinking and children not attending school due to Covid, has created a dangerous dynamic.
She told TheJournal.ie: “What I have been told is that it can be bought in local shops. I think [the issue] you have here is the availability of this. They are easy to get. It does appear to be increasing in use.
“You now have a lot of young people who are out of school. You have the mix of easy access and a higher number of children around.”
Mark Ward, Sinn Féín TD in Dublin Mid-West said he had been alerted by local litter wardens about an upsurge in the number of gas canisters discovered in the local area, especially the Shancastle area of Clondalkin.
Posting on social media earlier this week, he said: “The litter warden sent me these photographs after I asked for the illegal dumping at the end of Shancastle Drive to be removed.
“Whilst the level of dumping is disgusting what concerns me more are the “silver bullets” These are nitrous oxide more commonly known as laughing gas and can be fatal as we have seen recently in Tallaght.”
Areas in Dublin beaches, as well as the Curragh in Kildare, were littered with the debris as well.
Alex Ryan (15) died after inhaling the gas last month. A video message from his father, Mick Morrissey was shared by local newspaper The Echo.
Holding up one of the bottles, he said: “Unfortunately my son passed away from taking one of these.
“I’d like for everybody in the area, the whole of the country and the whole of the world to be able to recognise these things. These things are dangerous.
“Children are able to buy these things on the street for €1 or €2 a-go and unfortunately my son was one of the ones that didn’t survive.”
The HSE warned at the start of this year that use of this drug was on the rise and it was being purchased online.
The HSE warned that when the gas is inhaled, it has the potential to displace air in the lungs and can stop oxygen entering the blood flow.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Who’s mammy and daddy left who the most. Let the battles begin!
@Dan The Man: Yeah,keep telling yourself that.typical Irish attitude towards success and hard work.We must be the worst begrudging nation on earth.
@Dan The Man: Just because you didn’t make it very far in life, doesn’t mean others can’t either. You just assume that anyone with something decent was just given to them. Is that your coping mechanism because you can’t admit there is people who work harder than you and make better decisions?
@John Paul: well that’s one way to look at it, but you can see how such shows might really grate on those that haven’t been able to afford a house. I am in fact lucky enough to have purchased a house I can afford but I do wonder when we might see a tent or a temporary type of house on the show. Doesn’t fit the narrative though.
This is tat, pure and simple, but it’s par for the course with RTE!
This abomination along with the other shitshow cheap Irish homes have to be the worst ever attempt by RTE at entertainment.
@Sea Spirit: Why don’t they give updates or tell you what home the people featured, make a bid on. What’s the point of it all!
@Sea Spirit: A stop Dathai should be on this show aswell for god sake he’s brilliant oh Frank
Hugh Wallace makes me nauseas ‘Hooooooome of the year’… while the majority of us hard working people can’t even afford the circular red pillow to put in our ‘favourite place’. Yup rub it in please Man just a little bit more.
@J B: No fair enough JB and thank you for that x You must be so proud of your children that’s amazing x You’re right in fairness, I need to get over my resentments it’s just hard because genuinely worked so hard and lost everything. There I go again with the self pity!! Sorry JB and thanks again for your reply x
@Donna Fallon: As all the evidence shows, Irish people have never been better off financially. Look at car sales, holidays etc. There are always people who get left behind or endure bad circumstances etc but they are definitely not the majority
@Brian M: Yup there certainly are people who get left behind I agree but our obsession with property porn in this Country is quite unsettling. I personally find it distasteful. Just an opinion.
Love the show and the judges. It is amazing what people can do on very little as in the converted shop in Tipperary. Gorgeous home full of personality.
@Suzanne Phelan: I prefer those to the ones that obviously just had more money than taste thrown into them, everything to the max size, but minimal and sterile at the same time.
Home of the year …
I blame Duncan Stewart and his show “our house” with rté which started in the mid 90s for the start of the property boom. Just looat the graph 1996 / 2008 \ 2014 / 2025
@P. V. Aglue: Ah Drunken Duncan. There’s a name I haven’t seen in a while
have your say