“Through this measure, our priority remains to protect the health and ensure the safety” of all, explains Mohamed Chihi, environmentalist deputy mayor, delegate for Security and signatory of the municipal decree, quoted in a press release. Describing the misuse of this gas as a “national scourge”, the deputy calls for “strong mobilization of the State on this problem”.
Nitrous oxide is classified as a “poisonous substance”. In France, the government has banned its sale to minors and restricted the quantities on sale. In the United Kingdom or the Netherlands, the sale and use has been restricted or prohibited.
Used in cooking for Chantilly siphons and in medicine as an analgesic, its misuse has made it popular with young people. Its instant effect, unrestrainable laughter, gave it the nickname “laughing gas”. “Its consumption can have serious consequences on health and in particular cause neurological disorders, or even hematological or psychiatric complications,” recalls the city of Lyon.
Nitrous oxide: why you should not consume it
Nitrous oxide is a colorless gas used as an anesthetic and painkiller but also to pressurize aerosols, such as in whipped cream siphons in particular. Easily accessible therefore, it has been used for several years in a roundabout way because of its euphoric properties. Hence its name “laughing gas”.
More prevention
In 2023, the metropolitan services collected more than 7 tonnes of empty nitrous oxide gas cylinders in Lyon, and 25 tonnes throughout the metropolis. In parallel with this decree, the city “commits to strengthening its actions in terms of addiction prevention” and risk reduction, in particular with a teleconsultation system created by the Hospices Civils de Lyon.
Belgium
