Officials in the Revenue & Customs and neurologists working in the health service are both warning about growing evidence of the widespread use of nitrous oxide in Ireland.
Also referred to as laughing gas, fast gas, or hippy crack, nitrous oxide is typically inhaled from canisters or balloons to produce a short term high.
Its proper use is as pain relief in medicine and dentistry, and as a propellant in catering, particularly for things like whipped cream.
Revenue and Customs officials told Prime Time it is being brought into Ireland at scale by organised crime gangs and used nationwide.
Until recently, it was typically sold among users in small 16 or 25 gram cartridges. However, seizures are now being made of truckloads of 600-gram-plus canisters of the gas.
Thomas Talbot, who leads Revenue's criminal investigation function, said that more than 1,000 large canisters of nitrous oxide are currently being seized per week, mostly at Dublin and Rosslare ports.
"We're seeing more and more of the larger canisters, and that's where we're seizing. Any of those coming through the ports, they're automatically identified and investigated straight away," he said.
While the smaller cartridges ostensibly have a use in catering, Mr Talbot said officials have been told that there is "no legitimate use" for the larger canisters.
"It’s organised crime. They're making money on the back of society," he added.
Disposal of nitrous oxide canisters has also become a significant expense for Customs. Destroying pressurised metal canisters has cost €1.6 million over recent years, which covers only half the quantity seized, Mr Talbot said.
Customs rely on garda intelligence, international cooperation and advanced x-ray scanning to detect concealed shipments. A truck scanned inside Dublin Port earlier this year was found to contain more than 5,000 large canisters with an estimated street value of €185,000.
Neurological damage
Inhalation of nitrous oxide often makes users feel light-headed. It can also cause headaches and loss of consciousness. In certain cases, its use can trigger numbness of the hands and feet, or spinal cord damage, which is referred to as neurotoxicity.
Consultant neurologist Dr Hugh Kearney said that St James’s Hospital in Dublin is dealing with a "spike" in terms of the "frequency of people presenting to the emergency department" with issues linked to nitrous oxide use.
He is also seeing a growing number of cases of individuals with long-term neurological issues from inhalation of the gas.
Dr Kearney said he personally deals with "two to three cases" of nitrous oxide neurotoxicity weekly. The cases range from people with tingling sensations in their fingers, through to those with numbness in their limbs, to individuals with paralysis.
"In excess levels, nitrous oxide blocks B12, which is essential for producing myelin, the fatty substance that coats nerves. Without it, nerves are exposed and damaged," he explained.
"If this area of the spinal cord is injured, the person cannot tell where their limbs are in space. They may need to be bed-bound or use a wheelchair," he said.
Dr Kearney said the number of cases now presenting is comparable to alcohol-related neurotoxicity.
"We have published results of the extent of damage and harm that nitrous oxide does; this is a nationwide problem. It's certainly not exclusive to one site or one centre."
"There’s a mismatch," he says, "Alcohol’s risks are well known and regulated. None of that exists for nitrous oxide."
Used by many teenagers
The National Drug and Alcohol Survey does not keep statistics on nitrous oxide, making it difficult to ascertain just how widespread its usage is. However, youth workers who spoke to Prime Time say the drug is now deeply embedded in teenage culture.
Ciara Murphy, project leader at Finglas Youth Services, said "we certainly hear the young people talking about it. There’d be canisters strewn around the pathways and in the field behind us."
Many teenagers use nitrous oxide as a cheaper alternative to alcohol, she said.
"If they’re at parties, they might not be drinking, they’d say alcohol is expensive. So, this would be their choice of where they get their buzz."
Instagram and WhatsApp have become informal marketplaces with users aged 14–17, but sometimes younger.
"A young boy made his confirmation and used some of his confirmation money to buy laughing gas," Ms Murphy, who has worked in youth services for many years, said.
"We’ve heard of young people using the gas, one of their friends might pass out, and then they have to call an ambulance. We heard of another young person that was hospitalised and suffered some paralysis," Ms Murphy said.
At St James’s Hospital, Dr Kearney said what young people are seeing online is pushing them to take dangerous quantities.
"Social media plays a role in information and disinformation," he said. "We have seen people present who've intentionally taken too much nitrous oxide with the sense that this will make them immune to this problem."
"It's not an infection that you develop immunity to," he said.
"It is a biochemical process due to depletion of an essential vitamin. So, if you deplete the vitamin, it doesn't matter if you do it once or multiple occasions, simply depleting it is going to cause neurological harm."
Nitrous oxide is not controlled under the Misuse of Drugs Act, and can be legally purchased for catering or medical use. It is illegal under the Psychoactive Drugs Act to sell or import it for 'psychoactive’ purposes.
Prime Time was able to order a box of 50 small catering cartridges online and receive them the next day. Until recently, such silver cartridges were strewn across streets and parks around the country.
The same gas is inside the large commercial canisters now widely circulating, and the volume of these discarded canisters gives some indication of its use.
During visits to two Dublin nightclubs, large numbers of used canisters were observed in the surrounding areas. Boxes of the empty canisters were also visible in fields and parks in areas Prime Time visited.
Road safety concerns
It is also commonly used in car parks, which has raised concerns about road safety.
Across Europe, nitrous oxide has been linked to thousands of road collisions. In the Netherlands, authorities introduced a national ban following thousands of recorded crashes involving the drug.
In France last week, three teenagers drowned after the car they were in overturned into a swimming pool. Balloons and canisters were found inside.
In Ireland, no equivalent data is collected. Gardaí can test drivers for alcohol and a range of drugs, but nitrous oxide is not tested for, or screened by the Medical Bureau of Road Safety.
In a statement, An Garda Síochána said the bureau tests for substances including "cannabis, Benzodiazepines, Opiates, Methadone, Amphetamines (including Methamphetamine, MDA and MDMA) and Cocaine". It added: "The Medical Bureau of Road Safety does not currently test for the presence of nitrous oxide."
In November 2023, 23-year-old Dylan Killalee-Maher was killed outside the Buzz nightclub at the Red Cow roundabout.
He had gone to retrieve a jacket from the boot of the car he was travelling in when he was struck by another vehicle travelling at twice the speed limit.
The driver, Cameron Cooper, who had no full licence or insurance, did not stop. He falsely reported his car stolen before handing himself in to a garda station three hours later. Cooper was sentenced to four years for dangerous driving causing death in March this year.
It is not known whether nitrous oxide contributed to the crash, but balloons and empty canisters were found inside the vehicle. The judge noted that Cooper and his passengers had "obviously been having a good time" though there was no evidence he had inhaled the gas.
Dylan’s mother, Catherine Killalee-Maher, said she wants to see stronger deterrents.
"My son is a victim of it. In my eyes, he's a victim of it, of the fast gas," she said.
Reporter Conor Wilson and producer Isabel Perceval's report on nitrous oxide abuse will feature on the 10 December edition of Prime Time on RTÉ One and RTÉ Player at 9.35pm.
