Laughing gas

[ciphergoth]

Is recreational use of N₂O dangerous? An interesting debate in Ben Goldacre's Bad Science blog. Ben's article on the MHRA sinking their credibility by talking obvious rubbish is good value as always, but the comments underneath address the more general question of recreational N₂O and safety. See comments 8, 9, 14, 17 (mine), 18, 19, 21 (mine), and 23 in particular.

Comments

[zotz]

I wasn't actually so sure it was nonsense - Nitrous struck me as being very like my memories of helium (except without the squeaky voice, obviously). I'd have to do a comparison separated by less than two decades to be sure - my memories are of the helium taking rather longer to work, which would imply a pharmacological action, but I'm not entirely sure.