Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Even though nitrous oxide ranks among the top three drugs used by young people, it garners very little attention by the media or policy-makers. We have all seen with our own eyes the evidence of its growing use. I gave the canisters the name "silver bullets" because children are playing Russian roulette with this gas. The use of the gas has led to death and serious long-term harm to people who have used it to achieve a quick high. It is predominantly very young people who use it as it is cheap and easily accessible. I had previously put forward a Bill banning the sale of nitrous oxide to under-18s and I was astonished that the Government was wholly uninterested in achieving that goal. The Minister, Deputy O’Gorman even wrote to me last year to tell me that, in his view, the current legislation was working fine and that my Bill was somehow unnecessary.

Nitrous oxide is not a harmless substance. Prolonged use can have extremely damaging effects on the body. These include disorientation, impaired memory and cognition, and weakness in the legs. This worsens as the body is leached of vitamin B12 and can lead to permanent afflictions like foot drop as the nervous system is eroded over time. There are a lot of parents out there who do not really understand. They have seen these huge canisters; the ones they are using at the moment are the size of thermos flasks. Some policy-makers are even talking about giving balloons out to young people now to try to use it. There have been direct fatalities, even in my own constituency. Nitrous oxide is not safe. That is the message we want to send out today. We hope the legislation will deal with this. We need to wake up. It is happening in our communities to young people. That is what I am scared of. It is a gateway drug. I hate using that expression but it is. Young people are using it continuously. If you go on holidays to Spain, it is available in bars and restaurants. Unfortunately, as we can see in our parks and on our footpaths, it is available everywhere here.

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