Balls near the club. Balls to colic. The youth got hooked on dangerous "laughing gas". How much does it cost to breathe
Unbridled fun literally in one breath is promised by enterprising businessmen to thrill-seekers. An anesthetic drug, nitrous oxide, is marketed as a sure remedy for bad moods. They are sold both in fashionable clubs and on the Internet. Distributors of so-called oxygen balloons claim that they are harmless. But doctors are sure otherwise. Gas euphoria can cost a person their life.
A picture of complete serenity on Sparrow Hills during the day. Newlyweds release balloons into the sky. But as soon as it gets dark, other balls appear here and a completely different mood. In inconspicuous cars, cylinders stick out directly from the trunks, and balls sway invitingly in the wind. The observation deck is fully gasified.
All these people are not from a children's matinee at all, and they react very nervously to the camera. The patrol from the car with flashing lights does not pay any attention to what is happening - there are more worries with the racers. Although those who laughing gas also know firsthand.
“There is, I say, the 99th with nitrous oxide. It has a thousand horsepower with the button pressed,” Konstantin Ivanov, the organizer of racing races, reacts to the usual phrase.
Special cylinders are installed in the trunk to spin the engine up to fantastic speeds. But the same thing can be done with your own body, if you put the same gas not into the engine, but directly into the lungs. There is no longer a thousand horsepower, everything is much more serious.
The very center of Moscow. The concentration of trendy places per square meter is over the top, and trendy entertainment too. Balloons are sold in fashionable clubs, and all the sidewalks are strewn with them - as if a squad of Octobrists was having fun here.
“I can even drive. Look, now I’ll get puffed up, I’ll sit down and go to Maryino,” one of the nitrous connoisseurs promises.
Nothing illegal here, it seems, is happening - not a single law prohibits it from being sold or used, including while driving. The doctors are horrified - the seemingly tamed genie is starting to break out of the cylinders more and more confidently.
“Overdose is possible, because in medicine we do not use pure nitrous oxide, but we always mix it with oxygen so that there are no side and toxic effects. And here the gas is pure, right? Pure nitrous oxide with a slight overdose can cause hypoxia, which can be fatal ", - returns to reality the head of the department of anesthesiology and resuscitation of the Military Clinical Hospital of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation Arkady Sergeev.
In 1844, the dentist Horace Wells conducted the first public experiment in a university auditorium. But something did not calculate - and the gas went to the people. The students laughed to tears. And the dentist soon died. Today, all these entertainments, even with home delivery, can be bought completely legally and with a cash receipt. The site guarantees safety and fun, but warns that reactions may vary.
Special sets for 1200 rubles contain ten servings - for ten breaths. According to the descriptions, it feels like you are on Elbrus, because your lungs and brain lack oxygen, and you are about to lose consciousness. Doctors are categorical: this can only happen for anesthetic purposes and in the presence of an anesthesiologist who controls the percentage of the mixture. Pure gas can lead to death - such cases are known.
MOSCOW, April 18 - RIA Novosti, Irina Khaletskaya. Nitrous oxide, the so-called laughing gas that young people inhale, can easily kill. Special balloons intoxicate, euphoric - they are popular with visitors to nightclubs and private parties. Nitrous oxide is not considered a drug, so its sale is not prohibited. However, doctors insist: the gas is very dangerous. And the State Duma is preparing a bill to limit its trade turnover.
"Inhale!"
Night. One of the trendy clubs in St. Petersburg is crowded with visitors. A car is parked here, the trunk is full of cylinders. Balloons with gas are distributed to everyone - the price is symbolic, only 100 rubles. They don’t go far with balloons: young people immediately inhale the contents and rush to the club to have fun. The "procedure" is repeated five to ten times a night.
“Laughing gas covers quickly,” says club frequenter Mikhail. “Balloons are cheap, the desire to laugh and euphoria arise immediately, but it’s a shame that the effect is short-lived. Half an hour - and you want to inhale again. Then".
Experts note that the anesthesiologist, who works with the patient in the hospital, controls the amount of gas consumed. Entrepreneurs do not do this, no one limits the time of admission. Accordingly, the reaction can be very different.
Gas comes in cylinders to Russia from abroad, the media have repeatedly written. However, many sellers on their websites indicate a Russian manufacturer.
According to Nikita (who sells gas in Tyumen), the business is profitable. The entrepreneur refused to report the place of origin of the products. “No risk. I calmly blow out 20 balloons a night when I’m resting. Although I don’t advise more than ten. You never know. However, how many of them I blow, to be honest, I don’t feel anything bad. he is in the comments of RIA Novosti.
One balloon costs about ten thousand rubles, you can inflate up to 300 balloons. Will sell to anyone. Websites lure with catchy slogans: "quickly and legally", "quality rest", "a sea of emotions". And only some have a footnote in small print at the bottom: "Contraindications are possible, specialist advice is required."
In fact, nitrogen balloons should not be "blown" while intoxicated, as well as for those who have hypersensitivity and hypoxia, diseases of the nervous system, and chronic alcoholism. Hallucinations are possible if there were craniocerebral injuries, increased intracranial pressure and intracranial tumors. You can not inhale the gas with chronic bronchitis, asthma, pneumonia and the common cold. However, almost no one pays attention to contraindications.
“In large quantities at a time, gas, of course, is harmful. But have you heard that it is given to children in children’s clinics as an anesthetic? If it were very harmful, you see, it would have been banned a long time ago,” Nikita argues.
According to medical experts, low concentrations of nitrous oxide cause a feeling of intoxication and mild drowsiness. When inhaled, a narcotic state and asphyxia quickly sets in. The use of "laughing gas" can supposedly have an irreversible effect on the brain and nervous system. Even with a small concentration, it disorganizes mental activity, makes it difficult for muscles to work, and impairs vision and hearing.
President of the Independent Narcological Guild, narcologist, expert of the Public Chamber Ruslan Isaev told RIA Novosti that patients with such an addiction have not yet been recorded. “In the medical literature, cases of addiction are mentioned, but in practice this has not yet been encountered. “Laughing gas” has a rather toxic, poisonous effect on the body. It looks like a poison,” he says.
So good it's even bad
Despite the assurances of the sellers, an overdose of "laughing gas" ended in death. The first was recorded in 2006 in Israel - four young guys opened a forty-liter cylinder in a car, as a result, there was no air left in the cabin. The country then banned the retail circulation of gas. Similar restrictions were introduced in the USA, New Zealand, and India.
In Russia, nitrous oxide gained popularity in 2012. This is partly due to the ban on over-the-counter sales of drugs containing codeine or its salts. Gas began to be in demand among thrill-seekers.
Three residents of Tambov ended up in a psychiatric hospital after drinking alcohol, drugs and inhaled nitrous oxide. According to the preliminary version of the investigation, two young men and a girl “blew out” five balls filled with gas during the evening. Emotions got out of control, and the victims were hospitalized.
One of the employees of the club in St. Petersburg, on condition of anonymity, told RIA Novosti that she repeatedly inhaled nitrogen from balloons at work. Once she lost consciousness. It was like an epileptic seizure.
“I myself saw how some visitors fainted or became unwell. I thought they overdid it with dosages. But once I inhaled only three times, which is quite a bit, and lost consciousness. I don’t remember anything myself. Colleagues say: I fell and began to shake. I woke up on the floor," she recalls.
Lying with a balloon
There are no statistics on poisoning with such gas in Russia. This is due to the fact that nitrogen is quickly excreted from the body and it is difficult to establish the cause of death from it.
Nevertheless, the security forces and deputies have already tried several times to impose a ban on the free sale of "laughing gas". In 2012, the Federal Drug Control Service of Russia applied to the government with a proposal to recognize nitrous oxide as a narcotic drug, the circulation of which provides for criminal liability. However, the initiative did not result in something concrete.
So far, sellers of balls can only be held administratively liable for illegal trade and entrepreneurship, or temporarily suspend their activities.
At the end of March 2018, Natalya Kostenko, Deputy Chairman of the Committee for Control and Regulations of the State Duma, developed and submitted to the expert council of the United Russia faction a bill to limit the free circulation of nitrous oxide for other purposes.
According to the parliamentarian, the project was supported by Rospotrebnadzor, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and will soon be submitted to the State Duma.
Kostenko told RIA Novosti that many deputies were approached with this problem. “Nobody keeps statistics of poisonings or deaths, but there are a lot of high-profile cases when gas cylinders were found next to the bodies of children and teenagers. And if they inhaled from a balloon, it’s difficult to establish a connection,” Kostenko explains.
In her opinion, the investigation of such incidents does not lead to the desired results, since it is impossible to hold sellers accountable for the inappropriate distribution of nitrous oxide - there is no direct legislative prohibition.
“Gas is used in various fields of industry and medicine, therefore, to recognize nitrous oxide as a narcotic means to create serious difficulties for enterprises. Our version is more perfect and a compromise,” she argues.
What exactly will be the control mechanism, the experts have not yet fully clarified. But police officers promise to respond only to facts of misuse during raids on the streets and nightclubs. There are also plans to monitor sites that promote the use of gas. If passed, nitrous oxide trafficking could be punishable by up to ten years in prison.
No sooner had the passion for smoking mixtures subsided in Novosibirsk than new ones began to flare up. Young people have another fun - to inhale the so-called "Air of Ibiza", known in medicine as nitrous oxide. Laughing gas sellers promise euphoria, though not for long, only for three to five minutes. Despite this, the number of buyers of synthetic doping is only growing. Meanwhile, the merchants deliberately keep silent about the dangerous consequences.
Laughing gas, long used by physicians for anesthesia, is now used outside of operating theaters and hospitals. They are filled with ordinary balloons and sold in clubs, bars and via the Internet. Sellers promise a feeling of euphoria and unrestrained fun. Anesthesiologists are disgusted by the very idea of such use of anesthesia. After all, even for surgery, the dosage of nitrous oxide is selected individually so as not to harm the patient. The action of the gas is essentially asphyxiating.
“Even if he just breathed and nothing happened to him, it seems to him that nothing happened. There are short-term hypoxic episodes such as loss of consciousness. The brain remains without blood supply with oxygen for some period of time. Of course, this negatively affects him, ”comments the curator of the anesthesiology and resuscitation service of the city clinical hospital No. 1 Sergey Vasiliev.
They sell laughing gas openly, through social networks. And they do not hesitate to openly deceive those who want to have fun. Like, nitrous oxide in its pure form is safe and absolutely non-toxic, it is impossible to get poisoned by it. At the same time, there is no question of any individual selection of concentration.
In Novosibirsk clubs and bars are already having fun with gas. Here in this institution in the city center they offer balls with nitrous oxide. True, over the weekend all the reserves in the cylinders ran out. They promise to bring more in the evening.
“You inhale it, exhale it and have fun. Valid for 2 minutes. It does not bring any harm to health, ”says the interlocutor of“ NN ”.
Sellers do not consider nitrous oxide a drug. Yes, and legally it is. Laughing gas is not included in the list of prohibited psychotropic substances, no one forbade them to inflate balloons and sell them. Representatives of Gosnarkokontrol refuse to comment on the new way of getting pleasure. Meanwhile, in Moscow, where the fashion for laughing gas came from, there are already victims. Narcologists offer to urgently classify nitrous oxide as a dangerous substance.
“This substance can be addictive, like any drug. In addition, there is evidence that some vitamins, in particular group B, are poorly absorbed by those who use laughing gas,” notes acting. Larisa Antireykina, Chief Physician of the Regional Narcological Dispensary.
The fact that he who laughs last laughs best is forgotten by many buyers of nitrous oxide. The fun for them ends when the hallucinations begin. After two minutes, happiness goes away, and consciousness may not return.
Laughing gas balloons are just a pathetic substitute for the real joys of life for those who no longer notice these very joys. Clothed in a bright, festive form, nitrous oxide retains destructive power and sooner or later unbridled fun will end in tears: the body will simply deflate like a balloon.
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To the logical question: "WHAT'S IN THE BALL?" Even the bartender couldn't answer me. Newly acquired acquaintances, who offered this balloon to me and my friend, said that it contained pure oxygen - and I doubted it.
In general, I decided to get to the bottom of the truth and this is what I found ...
Version one, club and recreation
Laughing gas balloons use nitrous oxide, which is used in medicine for anesthesia. Of course, using nitrous oxide in its pure form is highly discouraged; in medicine, it is mixed with oxygen in a ratio of 30% to 70% (where 70% is oxygen).
Balloon sellers claim that it is a “completely harmless” remedy that helps lift mood, relieve stress, and even improve brain function. It is believed that there is no getting used to them, and the effect of "relaxation" lasts no more than 15 minutes. It is also argued that it is also impossible to “breathe” with balls, there is no overdose from “laughing gas”.
By the way, in Europe they are called "balls of happiness", they are absolutely legal and are not prohibited anywhere.
The fashion for nitrous oxide came from the 18th century. Then in Europe, at secular evenings, few people did without their sip of gas. According to one version, this is how people fought toothache, because then medicine was not at such a high level as it is now.
Version two, medical
Laughing gas has been used medically as an anesthesiology agent and in a range of medical procedures to relieve pain for over 140 years. It is part of the "narcotic cocktails" used in dentistry, obstetrics, etc.
Harmful side effects include inhibition of cellular DNA synthesis, impaired metabolism of vitamin B12 and folic acid, which plays an important role in wound healing. Laughing gas also affects the bone marrow and central nervous system, the effects of such exposure remain unknown.
In Israel, in 2006, changes were made to the rules for the use of laughing gas. It can only be used with the permission of the Ministry of Health, exclusively for medical reasons and under the strictest control.
How much does it cost to breathe?
In St. Petersburg, the cost of balls "with laughing gas" ranges from 150 to 500 rubles and more, depending on the rank of the nightclub and the material wealth of its visitors.
Like smoking and alcohol, "laughing gas" does not bring benefits, but it has not been proven to cause serious harm either. Therefore, to breathe or not to breathe is a personal matter for everyone.
The new anti-drug unit of the Ministry of Internal Affairs - the Main Directorate for Drug Control (GUNK) - took care of the problem of laughing gas, which young people loved so much. Cylinders and balloons with gas are sold both by online stores and numerous private dealers at parties, near clubs and on the streets. Young people get high from laughing gas, and sometimes get poisoned. Now the Ministry of Internal Affairs is going to open criminal cases for the sale of N 2 O gas without permission. The police have already asked the Ministry of Health for its experts to determine the dose of nitrous oxide sufficient to initiate a criminal case.
Old problem with new parts
On Vorobyovy Gory, right opposite the main university of the country, there is a pretty battered silver Nissan. Tied to the open trunk is a string of colorful balloons. Nearby is a gas cylinder with which the balloons are pumped. Everyone understands what kind of car it is: from time to time, groups of young people come up to the car and buy two or three balloons. Balls are not for their beauty at all. They are only interested in the contents - nitrous oxide, laughing gas, which they are going to inhale. There is no danger for the seller - formally, the sale of nitrous oxide is not prohibited.
Laughing gas in the capital - and not only - youth parties began to gain popularity since 2012. Then in clubs, at parties and in other places where young people gathered, one could find suspiciously cheerful companies with balloons in their hands. From time to time, the youth kissed the balloons, inhaled the gas from them, and laughed out loud.
Sometimes there was no time for fun - there were poisonings. At one time, the State Drug Control Service was going to punish the sellers of laughing gas under the criminal code, but this initiative quietly died. Now the legal successor of the State Drug Control Service - the Ministry of Internal Affairs - has decided to revive this idea. According to sources, the direct reason was the number of consumers of this gas, which has not significantly decreased over 4 years.
In different regions of the country, cases of active distribution, as well as the use of this gas, which had serious consequences for the health of citizens, were recorded, a source in the Ministry of Internal Affairs told Life. - Criminal cases have been initiated against nitrogen distributors, the courts have already issued a number of convictions.
Therefore, the Ministry of Internal Affairs is going to add laughing gas to the list of potent and toxic substances. And also bring its circulation under the already existing criminal article 234 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation ("Illegal trafficking in potent or toxic substances for the purpose of sale"). Now it provides for punishment for up to eight years if someone decides to illegally manufacture, buy, sell or transport any strong and poisonous substances that are not drugs. Now the list of these substances is planned to include laughing gas, as well as xenon.
So far, the police have no reason to punish for the distribution of this gas. According to the law, he is not recognized as a drug, which means that he does not fall under the jurisdiction of the drug police. So they fight as hard as they can.
We can only bring laughing gas sellers to administrative responsibility for illegal trade, since they usually sell balls without being registered as entrepreneurs, one of the police officers in the Tambov region, where this hobby has also spread, told Life.
fun concentration
In order to make changes to the Criminal Code, it is first necessary to assess what dose of gas can be dangerous when inhaled. For this, the Deputy Head of the Main Directorate of Drug Administration, Sergey Sotnikov, sent a corresponding request to the Director of the Department of Drug Provision of the Ministry of Health, Elena Maksimkina.
Sotnikov asks Maksimkina to evaluate the gas concentration, from which an analgesic (pain-relieving) effect occurs. Based on this concentration, the police are going to determine the minimum dose, starting from which the gas will be banned from free circulation. That is, if, for example, a person gets a buzz from 5 grams, then, starting from this volume, it will no longer be possible to buy it just like that.
In the same request, Sotnikov mentions another gas from which a buzz comes - xenon. He also asks to estimate how likely it is that xenon will be used as a soft drug, in which case xenon should be included in the article.
Given the anesthetic effect, analgesic and anti-stress effect of xenon, I ask you to express your opinion whether it can be used for an intoxicating effect, adds Sotnikov.
Xenon, it should be noted, is already included in the list of intoxicating substances. It has 12 items in total. This includes, in addition to xenon, diphenhydramine, barbiturates, chloroform, antipsychotics and clonidine. These are not drugs, but potent substances that can influence a person's behavior.
With this list, they say in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, there is one big problem - no one knows what to do with it. The list of intoxicating substances was compiled by members of the Standing Committee on Narcotics Control ( PKKN ) 15 years ago, but the PKKN collapsed, and since then the document has actually lived its own life, like a restless one. One of the few uses of this list is in sentencing in criminal cases. The use of substances from this list is considered as an aggravating circumstance if a person, being under their influence, commits some kind of crime.
At the same time, the list does not have a specific legal status, and no one in the Ministry of Health is responsible for filling it out and assessing the degree of exposure to the substances included there, the source complains.
Therefore, the Ministry of Internal Affairs is also asking the Ministry of Health to clarify what to do with this list and how it can still be applied legislatively.
Who turned on the gas?
To understand where the main supplies of laughing gas come from, the operatives spent a long time and carefully searching the Internet for online stores that sell nitrous oxide. They were not interested in "nitro" tanks, which are used to tune cars, but either food bottles or balloons for inflating balloons.
To date, laughing gas is sold at retail in cans of 8 grams or large cans of 3.5 and 10 liters, and is also sometimes pumped into ordinary balloons, which are sold by the piece, a source in the Ministry of Internal Affairs shared with Life.
Often, they write to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, gas goes through Chinese online stores. They send gas in small portions, 8 grams in a can. Already in Russia, devices for inhalation and opening cans are attached to such parcels - the so-called N 2 O Cracker. In slang they are called "openers".
But even half the trouble, if the gas came only from abroad. Unfortunately, buzz-seekers are actively buying for the whole honest company huge domestic cylinders, which are produced at the MedGazService plant in Cherepovets. Operatives do not rule out that this became possible due to poor control at the plant itself.
The trends of the last two years show that larger nitrous oxide cylinders have become more popular - from 3.5 to 10 liters, costing from 2 to 11 thousand rubles. They are positioned as a means for "good mood" and parties, - said the source. - Until recently, the origin of such cylinders could not be established, but many sellers on their websites call the gas producer a plant in the Vologda region "MedGazService". True, they present only copies of certificates that are easy to forge.
According to the police, this is the only plant for the production of N 2 O in Russia. They were very concerned that nitrogen from this plant was freely sold on the Internet. Therefore, in their letter to the Ministry of Health, they demanded to pay attention to this plant and control its activities.
In particular, the police requested the results of all inspections that took place at the enterprise in 2013-2016. According to Life, over the years, the plant was checked only nine times by auditors from Rospotrebnadzor, Rostransnadzor, Roszdravnadzor and the traffic police. Only one violation was found, and it was not related to the production process, but to the infringement of the labor rights of a disabled employee.
The head office of MedGazService is located in Cherepovets. The plant positions itself as a manufacturer of gases for technical and medical purposes. Products - cylinders with carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide or oxygen. At the plant itself, Life was not given a comment, citing the fact that the management was not at work.
The police did not stop at studying the “jambs” of one plant and asked the Ministry of Health to tell in general about the measures that the department is taking to prevent misuse of gas. They also requested regulatory documents that indicate the rules for the sale and transportation of this volatile substance in the country.
Experts disagree
According to the chief toxicologist of the Ministry of Health, director of the "Scientific and Practical Toxicological Center" of the FMBA, Yuri Nikolayevich Ostapenko, it is necessary to limit the circulation of laughing gas, because this gas causes too serious consequences.
It is necessary to limit the free circulation of nitrous oxide, or the so-called laughing gas. This substance is not for general use. By itself, this is an industrial gas that doctors use for anesthesia, both in anesthesiology and in emergency care. But by no means for it to be bought and inhaled anywhere, at every corner. In addition, its uncontrolled use can lead to asphyxia (suffocation) and death. After all, people breathe it like: from some bags, from some balloons. So you can lose consciousness and suffocate. And if it is used in medical conditions, it must be mixed with oxygen. There, its concentration is calculated so that hypoxia does not occur. And the most unpleasant thing is that it is addictive, like a drug. There were cases, even before the nitrous oxide craze, when some doctors, having tried it as a laughing gas, then became addicted, and they developed an addiction, Yuriy Ostapenko told Life.
As for the possible consequences for the body, here, says Ostapenko, everything is very individual. If you inhale the gas once, of course, there will be no serious consequences. But if a person is addicted to gas and inhales it too often, brain cells will suffer or hypoxia will occur, that is, a decrease in oxygen in the blood. Degenerative changes can also occur in the lungs. In general, according to Ostapenko, under certain conditions, the passion for laughing gas can even develop into an addiction to other, harder drugs.
But the narcologist believes, on the contrary, that there is no particularly strong dependence on N 2 O.
I do not see this as a big problem yet, in my opinion, this is all greatly exaggerated. I did not have such patients. I have never seen a dependence on nitrous oxide, - Alexey Egorov, a professor at the Department of Psychiatry and Narcology at St. Petersburg State University, told Life. - Yes, and there are no special consequences for the body. Nitrous oxide can be addictive, but it's the same as any volatile inhalants. According to this logic, everything can be banned. I don't know how far the restrictions should extend in such a case. Let's ban lighters then, because they also contain gas that can also be sniffed. Let's ban gas stoves.
Sad Consequences of Happy Gas
While the powers that be decide what to do with laughing gas, it causes mostly unhappy consequences. For example, in 2015, at the intersection of Nakhimovsky Prospekt and Simferopolsky Boulevard, seven cars crashed soft-boiled. The reason was Mercedes, which rammed six foreign cars at a traffic light. A company of five young people fell out of a Mercedes car. For some reason, they took a gas cylinder out of the trunk and tried to shift it into the trunk of one of the mangled cars. According to eyewitnesses, the young people were under laughing gas. Later it turned out that four people were injured in the accident, one died.
And in 2012 that three teenagers from the Tambov region inhaled N 2 O, after which they ended up in a mental hospital with depression, hallucinations and attacks of unmotivated aggression.
Back in 2012, the Federal Drug Control Service (FSKN) actively advocated for a ban on laughing gas. Drug control operatives then even massive raids on gas dealers who stood right in the center of Moscow, on Bolotnaya Embankment.
However, a year later, the department's position changed dramatically.
We looked at this problem: laughing gas users are a thousandth of a percent of all drug users. This does not form any kind of systemic problem, - Viktor Ivanov, director of the Federal Drug Control Service, told reporters in Moscow in December 2013.