Why is it illegal for anyone under 21 to buy canned whipped cream in New York?
A component in whipped cream can be used to create and inhale nitrous oxide, also known as ‘laughing gas’.
Buying whipped cream would usually be associated with a culinary invention or a warm drink on a cold autumnal night. However, in New York young people are not able to purchase whipped cream due to the secondary use of cartridges included as an inhalant drug.
“Inhalants are invisible, volatile substances found in common household products that produce chemical vapors that are inhaled to induce psychoactive or mind-altering effects,” according to a US Drug Enforcement Administration factsheet.
The law was introduced in November 2021 in a bid to prevent teenagers from inhaling nitrous oxide. Around 20 percent of young people have used inhalants like nitrous oxide before the age of 14.
What are the risks of nitrous oxide?
According to drug safety website FRANK, nitrous oxide is opened into a balloon or inhaled directly from a canister. The latter method is particularly dangerous as it can cause a spasm of the throat muscles.
The effects usually last no more than a minute and include feelings of relaxation, anxiety and paranoia.
Some of the common deaths are caused by inhaling too much at once and dying of asphyxiation.