During the Alamo’s patron saint festivities, a group of young people huddle together in the morning between glasses of alcohol and colorful balloons. The music is blaring in the cabin and no one seems connected to reality: they barely talk to each other and almost everyone who is there keeps their gaze lost. Outside of the party, some neighbors have been coming across strange bottle-shaped tanks scattered on the ground for days. And it is not the first time they have found them, also in the San Isidro park, known as “El Coto”, they find remains of bottles filled with this type of cylinder. This is nitrous oxide (N2O), a gas with anesthetic, analgesic and dissociative properties already appreciated by the youth of Madrid.
Although still in small quantities, “laughing gas” (as it is colloquially known) has been observed in rave parties, parks, nightlife venues and subway cars. “The laughter it produces is great,” sums up one user, not forgetting the extreme feeling of happiness and relaxation that inhaling it provokes. He does so sparingly in his words, without considering that all that glitters is not gold. But before listing its dangerous effects, it is worth retracing the path of this recreational drug until it knocked on the doors of Madrid.
Ten years ago, nitrous oxide was spreading mainly in clubs in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and some festivals in northern Europe. A recreational use of the gas that, little by little, was detected in the most touristic areas of the Spanish Levant (Costa Brava and Costa del Sol, mainly) and the Balearic Islands. Thus, it was soon discovered that it was the foreigners themselves who were responsible for bringing the euphoria with them to their holiday destinations. “I’ve seen it in Ibiza since the first time I went there, more or less since 2010,” adds a former waiter on the island, aware of the “boom” caused by the arrival of these small capsules at 4 or 5 euros each.
From this irruption we went to a fallow period where the balloon phenomenon seemed limited to this type of environment and public. But the pandemic arrived and changed everything. As with so many other drugs, the closure of bars and nightclubs caused a consumption of gas in private homes and in bottles, which quickly led to its relocation. This led the authorities to focus on its fraudulent use (legally, it is used as a sedative in dental clinics; and in the hotel industry, to fill whipped cream siphons), leaving behind a series of interventions in the Community of Madrid.
In Humanes, the local police dismantled an illegal party on Christmas Eve 2020, in which, in addition to identifying 48 people who violated the curfew, they found the first industrial tanks of this dangerous gas, whose use after the end of the pandemic has gradually replaced single-dose N2O capsules. “In the recreational field, nitrous oxide had its explosion years after its discovery, then it fell into oblivion a little and, in recent times, it seems that it has been reactivated,” the national director of energy control, Claudio Vidal, told ABC. , relying on the publications of the latest seizures and the trace left by the cartridges on public roads and clean points in some localities.
As this newspaper has been able to compare, for some time now the growth has been such that this year the representations have multiplied throughout the region. In April, for example, the Local Corps of Coslada seized more than 140 bottles distributed in about thirty boxes in the trunk of a car. It was during a routine check that the uniformed officers observed a high-powered vehicle making an evasive maneuver to avoid it: on board were two residents of Cañada Real who, after being hit, tried to justify the cargo for self-consumption. Explanations that were useless since the merchandise was seized and the driver ended up being denounced for having transported it without the required authorization.
Precisely the fact that it can be acquired legally makes it difficult for the authorities to control it. Among the police sources consulted are nitrous oxide among the inhaled drugs, as well as glues or aerosols, dual-use products that can only be used in certain circumstances. Possession is difficult to prosecute if its sale as a narcotic is not proven or, as in the case of Coslada, if it is detected in large quantities and the holder is unable to explain its origin.
In May, local officers in Leganés seized several bottles used at parties and nightclubs; and the following month, Madrid municipal police arrested the owner of an illegal after-party on General Perón Avenue (Chamartín district), accused of supplying dozens of customers with what is known as “laughing gas.” The trafficker, 27, was selling each bottle for 50 euros, almost double the price they can be bought online. A total of 37 containers of the Cream Deluxe brand, the most popular among its fans, were stored there. When they entered, the officers surprised 42 people and a trail of balloons scattered on the ground.
Although nitrous oxide is considered a substance with a “low risk profile”, provided that it is consumed in low and specific doses, the director of Energy Control warns of its risks, mainly related to two elements: the mode of ingestion and the frequency. “When ingesting it, it should not be inhaled directly from the cartridge, as it comes out at a very low temperature and could cause burns; the gases should also not be retained in the lungs because they displace oxygen and could cause asphyxiation; and it is essential to be extremely careful if it is combined with other drugs, especially alcohol, because it alters the central nervous system and can cause loss of balance or orientation,” he recalls.
Regarding the frequency, continuous consumption could also lead to a vitamin B12 deficiency. “It is characterized by neurological symptoms, related to tingling in the extremities,” adds Vidal, aware that the problem with this type of product lies in how to impose limitations without harming legal uses. A legal product used illegally and that, although anyone can buy it in physical stores or on the Internet, the large seizures of the summer indicate the existence of trafficking networks: 4,200 kilos in Malaga, 1,800 in Seville… And you know, supply It is always linked to demand.
