Although the use of “laughing gas” is often associated with parties and festivals, experts highlighted to Lusa news agency the lack of awareness about the long-term consequences of its consumption and advocated prevention actions in schools and families.

Known as “laughing gas,” nitrous oxide has been linked to a number of health problems, including poisoning, burns and lung injuries, and in some cases of prolonged exposure, neurological damage.

Pediatrician at the Adolescent Unit of the São José Local Health Unit, at the Dona Estefânia Hospital, Margarida Alcafache stressed that it is necessary to raise awareness about the risks of this practice, so that “young people do not pass on the idea that it is harmless to consume”.

It is also important to alert parents to the existence of nitrous gas consumption which, according to a report by the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction, has seen increasing use by young people in recreational contexts in recent years.

“I think that most parents in Portugal are not aware that this drug is being used recreationally” and, on the part of young people, “there is a lack of awareness of what they are really doing”, he highlighted.

For Margarida Alcafache, the consumption of “laughing gas” seems to be something that has become fashionable, in addition to being “cheap, easy to access and with the idea among young people that it has no consequences”.

“The important message to get across is that it clearly has consequences, particularly for young people who are still developing,” he pointed out, arguing that there should be more control over the sale of this psychoactive substance, which is banned in Portugal but is easy to buy online, in convenience stores and supermarkets.

Hence the need for parents to be aware of the risks their children run and to talk to them to prevent these situations, as well as schools that must invest in training and raising awareness among young people.

The neuropediatrician at Hospital Dona Estefânia Rita Silva advocated that parents should be alert if their children complain of “tingling or notice that they are having difficulty walking or are unbalanced”.

“Young people don’t consume with their parents. They usually consume with each other, at parties, festivals”, but when it becomes “almost an addiction” they find a way to do it alone to have the “sensation of euphoria” caused by this gas when they inhale it, using cans, like whipped cream cans, or balloons with the product inside.

He also warned of a set of behavioral changes in young people in terms of mood, ability to complete tasks, and interpersonal relationships that parents should be aware of.

"There are even reports of some possibility of accidental asphyxiation, due to the type of consumption and inhalation that is done, but, fortunately, it is very rare and, therefore, the risk of death is not very frequent, although this disorientation can often be the cause of accidents that can combine with more serious and even more lethal effects", he warned.

Andreia Ribeiro highlighted that ICAD has responses at a national level for individual support that should be disseminated so that “young people have more direct access when they need help and when they are already starting to experience some complications related to the use of this substance and others”.