How ‘hippy crack’ became kids’ drug of choice – and why it’s fallen out of favor with Gen Z
It was once loved by rebellious teenagers seeking a cheap, quick high, as well as an assortment of famous faces and footballers.
But now laughing gas – sometimes called ‘laughing gas’, ‘hippie crack’ or ‘no’ – is fast falling out of fashion. Usage rates have halved in the wake of the pandemic, official figures suggest.
The downturn comes amid a spate of deaths linked to the drug, sold in small silver cans that line the streets and typically inhaled through a balloon like helium.
Business student Ellen Mercer, 24, from Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire, became the latest confirmed victim of the use of nitrous oxide. Yesterday an inquest heard how Mrs Mercer, who died in hospital last February, ordered huge bottles of the drug up to three times a day.
Some former addicts have told how they went through up to 500 cans in a weekend, describing it as ‘more addictive than cocaine’.
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Coroner Heidi Connor listed ‘long-term complications due to nitrous oxide abuse’ among the causes of Ellen Mercer’s (pictured) death
In addition to deaths, serious side effects, including dizziness, leg weakness and impaired memory, are believed to have deterred today’s children from experimenting with nitrous oxide.
Hippy crack, which creates a temporary feeling of relaxation and euphoria, rose to modern fame in the early 2010s.
Balloon-wielding retailers cashed in on demand, fueled in part by a glamorous array of celebrities and footballers posting pictures of themselves apparently using it.
TOWIES Jessica Wright faced criticism for posting a picture of herself apparently using a hippy crack balloon in 2013.
Coronation Street actress Michelle Keegan was seen taking the drug in 2012 at London’s Anya nightclub as part of her 25th birthday celebrations.
Even Prince Harry, who was seen indulging in nitrous oxide once at a 2010 charity party in the capital.
As recently as 2021, former Love Island starter Jack Fincham was spotted apparently inhaling hippy crack at a party with friends.
Manchester City’s Jack Grealish and Chelsea’s Raheem Sterling have also received criticism for taking hippy crack over the years.
TV star Trisha Goddard’s daughter Billie Dee shared the impact of her massive nos addiction last year.
‘It is more addictive than any other drug I had known and I took one after another after another, sometimes doubling up with two cans in a balloon. I would spend the whole weekend in the apartment and easily get through 500 in two days,” she said.
“I didn’t take care of myself, didn’t eat properly and even forgot to drink water some days,” she says.
‘I didn’t even have the cognitive function to answer my phone.’
Another factor that experts believe fueled it popularity is how cheap it is to buy, with cans of gas selling online for as little as 20p each.
Each can is enough to fill a single balloon, although larger models can fill up to 80.
Balloons are then consumed in ‘chutes’ by either a single person or a group typically over a short period of time.
Billie Dee would turn to the cheapest way she knew to relax – inhaling laughing gas, or “no” from balloons
While suppliers often mark this up to £5 or more per balloon at festivals and nightclubs, it’s still cheaper than a pint of beer in many parts of the country – let alone other recreational drugs.
And the fact that it also has a legitimate use in the food industry as well as in medicine meant that it was relatively easier to obtain a supply than other, harder drugs.
However, hippy crack’s time as a top drug among young people is over.
Data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) shows that just 4.2 per cent of 16- to 24-year-olds, equivalent to around 250,000 people, used nitrous oxide between 2022-23.
While this still puts nitrous oxide well above ketamine, LSD, and ecstasy (3.8, 1.5, and 2.4 percent, respectively), it is a 54 percent drop from previous numbers.
Almost one in 10 (8.7 per cent) or around 500,000 young people used nitrous oxide in 2019-20, the most recent year for data not affected by the Covid pandemic.
Cocaine has apparently overtaken hippy crack in popularity among Gen Z, with nos now in third place.
Just over every 20 young people (5.1) consumed cocaine within the last year.
Cannabis remains the most popular drug overall among young people, a position it has held since the 90s.
Many people think of nitrous oxide as harmless, especially compared to other illegal drugs like cocaine, ketamine and ecstasy.
But experts warn that this is a misconception and that recreational use of nitrous oxide is dangerous.
Heavy and regular recreational use of the drug can lead to dizziness, weakness in the legs and impaired memory.
About 40 percent of users have reported experiencing side effects such as anemia, cognitive impairment, and chronic headaches.
Neurologists have warned that nitrous oxide, a gas inhaled recreationally by some young people, is more dangerous than cocaine. Pictured: Revelers suck on balloons at a music festival, a common way people inhale laughing gas
Nitrous oxide, also known as hippy crack or nos, is sold in distinctive silver tins, which have become a common sight discarded on streets and parks in some parts of the UK
It can even cause users to pass out or suffocate due to the temporary lack of oxygen to the brain if they inhale highly concentrated forms of the gas.
Vitamin B12 depletion, a complication triggered by nitrous oxide abuse, can also cause neurological problems. A man suffered brain damage after inhaling 2 liters of nitrous oxide every week for six months.
Some neurologists have reported seeing more patients damaged by hippy crack than cocaine today. Addicts have reported using up to 150 cylinders per day.
The exact reason for the decline in the use of hippy crack among young people in recent data is unclear.
Several horror stories of injuries and even deaths associated with nitrous oxide may have scared a significant portion of Gen Z off the drug.
Such cases include business student Ellen Mercer, 24, from Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire, who died after inhaling three large bottles of nitrous oxide last February.
Others include London receptionist Kerry Donaldson, who warned of the long-term effects of nitrous oxide in 2022.
A former heavy user of hippy crack, in 2017 she began to lose feeling in her hands and is now partially paralyzed.
She now needs a wheelchair to get around after developing a bulging disc in her lower back and nerve damage.
Kerry Donaldson (pictured), 25, from Newham in London, revealed in July 2022 how her ‘hippy crack’ binges damaged her spinal cord and forced her to rely on her father for round-the-clock care
Alex Littler (pictured), from Cheshire, was just 16 when he was rushed to hospital on June 20, 2022 last year after inhaling nitrous oxide
Kerry, 25 at the time, said in 2022: ‘I didn’t really understand the damage it could cause. I just thought it was a bit of fun, I didn’t think it would hurt me’.
That same year, 16-year-old Kayleigh Burns collapsed at a house party in Leamington Spa.
The teenager, who was asthmatic, had taken nitrous oxide shortly before she complained of being ‘too hot’ before falling unconscious.
She was taken to hospital, where she later died.
Also in 2022, Alex Littler, 16, almost died after inhaling laughing gas at the Parklife festival last year.
He was rushed to hospital after complaining of a swollen throat, but it turned out he had a burst and leaking lung and was lucky to be alive.
Another factor that could have contributed to the drop in consumption was the government’s promises of a crackdown, which came true last October.
Under the amendment, hippy crack became a controlled class C drug, similar to some steroids and anti-anxiety drugs benzodiazepines such as Valium.
This means that dealers in nitrous oxide risk up to 14 years in prison.
Sir Humphry Davy pictured in 1830 Humphry Davy was a chemist who discovered the pleasurable effects of ‘hippy crack’ in 1799
Users also risk an unlimited fine, community service, a warning – which will appear on their criminal record – or a possible two years in prison for serious addicts.
Nitrous oxide use will remain legal for catering and medicinal purposes.
While licenses will not be required to carry nitrous oxide, users will be required to demonstrate that they do not intend to consume it for psychoactive effects.
Hippy crack is not a new phenomenon. Recreational use dates back to 1799, after the drug’s discovery.
Back then, ‘laughing gas parties’ were popular among parts of Britain’s upper class.
The trend was launched by the then twenty-year-old chemist Humphry Davy – later to become Sir Davy, President of the Royal Society – after he began experiments on himself in Bristol to determine the medical effects of inhaling nitrous oxide.
During his experiment, Davy was pleased to find the gas offered euphoric effects – and was extremely pleasant ‘especially in the chest and extremities’.
Davy continued to introduce the gas to his friends, while also noticing that it relieved pain he suffered from toothaches, a discovery that eventually led to its use in medicine.