Whippets, nitrous oxide, laughing gas: Family, health officials warn use can be deadly

CHARLOTTE — It’s called nitrous oxide. You may know it as laughing gas. Dentists use it for pain relief. Others use it for a quick high.

You can buy it legally. Social media promotes it, and it’s widely available, but it can cause nerve damage, paralysis, even death. And health officials say abuse has soared.

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Leigh Caldwell says her sister, Meg, started using nitrous oxide in college and continued for years, a costly -- and dangerous -- addiction.

“Her whole life had become derailed due to her addiction to this drug,” Caldwell said. “She would spend $300/400 at a smoke shop in a day.”

Whippets, nitrous oxide, laughing gas: Family, health officials warn use can be deadly (WSB)

She says her sister’s addiction left her incontinent and even caused temporary paralysis in her legs. “A doctor in the hospital said, ‘This is going to kill you. You’re going to die,’” she said.

Meg was found dead outside a vape shop where she bought the substance. She was 29.

“Her absence is felt every day,” Caldwell said.

According to the CDC, deaths attributed to nitrous oxide poisoning rose more 110% over five years.

“A lot of these patients are adults being seen in the emergency room, after experiencing blackouts, unconsciousness,” Dr. Gaylord Lopez, with the Georgia Poison Center, said.

He says chronic use of nitrous oxide robs the brain and heart of oxygen.

“You’re talking about heart conditions, blood clots, some even experienced temporary paralysis,” he said.

The U.S. FDA has also weighed in. In June, the agency advised consumers not to inhale nitrous oxide products from any size canisters, tanks, or chargers.

“You really don’t know when you’ll stop breathing, when you’ll lose consciousness, when your body will stop functioning,” drug addiction counselor Kim Castro said.

She remembers one of her clients.

“When they opened the door, he was totally unconscious. There were probably 30 whippet canisters there. And he had to be hospitalized,” she said.

She says he had another nitrous oxide binge and died six months later.

As for Caldwell’s family, they filed a class action lawsuit against the manufacturers of nitrous oxide and seven smoke shops to stop retail sales of the drug.

“This is not a wrongful death case. The Caldwell’s made a decision their focus would be for the public good,” their lawyer, John Allen Yanchunis, said.

“The whole aim in all of this is to keep someone from having a loss like ours,” Caldwell said.

One of the brands named in the class action is Galaxy Gas.

Channel 9’s sister station in Atlanta reached out to their attorneys. They said a Chinese company bought Galaxy Gas in 2024. At last check, Friday, they had not responded.

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