Nitrous Oxide Canisters (Hippy Crack)

[fiction-factory]

The streets, car parks and some shop doorways and church grounds round here are littered with these nitrous oxide canisters (whipped cream chargers- yeah, right) and balloons, plus piles of McDonalds wrappers (presumably the gas makes you feel hungry) and fag ends. I see groups of youths/ young men meeting up in car parks, arriving in cars, sharing some 'hippy crack' canisters and McDs, then driving off at great speeds in their BMWs and Audis.

A few questions-
1)Where do they get their canisters from? Surely most are bought for highs than for whipping cream. Are they freely available in supermarkets? (May be coincidence but some of the ones I know have families with ice cream vans.)
2)Is it illegal to drive after using them?
3)Is it a passing craze or is it here to stay, particularly as the main users are for religious reasons not allowed to drink alcohol to get their kicks?
4)Can I recycle the canisters? If I collected a few hundred or so (easily done over a few days) would there be a scrap value?

[-SharonA-]

Got a load on my streets too.

[bednobs]

1) dunno (more's the pity)
2 yes, it's illegal to drive while under the influence f drugs
3) here to stay i reckon, athough i thought the main users were young people. don't think thts a religion yet
4)dunno

[bednobs]

1) online - just use your search engine for "buy nitrous oxide"

[Sam1960]

Probably buy them online, some facts here though .....
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/3364682/nitrous-oxide-canisters-side-effects-laughing-gas-hippy-crack-illegal/

[douglas9401]

You don't have to be a hillbilly to be a slack-jawed yokel.

Just spare me the outpourings of guff on social media when the inevitable happens. All 'brightest star' and 'miss yous babe'.

[tonyav]

Nitrous oxide, great for putting a little extra boost in your engine though.

[Mamyalynne]

Recycling

https://metro.co.uk/2018/07/10/recycling-used-laughing-gas-canisters-for-cash-could-help-create-a-cleaner-britain-7694925/

[fiction-factory]

>here to stay i reckon, although i thought the main users were young people. don't think that's a religion yet

You are probably right, bednobs- it's just that the groups I see regularly who do it openly in public all seem to be from the same ethnic and probably religious group. I'm sure it's a problem in other communities too though, I just haven't seen it here. And it's not just teenagers it seems- those footballer users in Sam's link were closer to 30.
But is it any worse for an 18 year old than knocking back five pints like I sometimes did at that age (although I didn't then race off home in my car)?

[Peter Pedant]

for the putting more vroom in your engine
( see sc 1 of Mad max 1 )

N2O has a lower activation energy so the oxygen is more available and there is more energy for more oomph

just thhought I would say

[tonyav]

I know, pp.

[fiction-factory]

Thanks for the link, Mamyalynne. I think I'll put them in my bin but hope no one thinks they were mine.
£100 a tonne. Mmm- I would need a lot of canisters- I must weigh some and see how many I'd need.

[retrocop]

I could be forgiven for thinking your opening scenario that you lived next door to me. Happens that most of the canisters are littered around a community centre car park next to a large Sainsbury store. The store is directly opposite a McDonalds. The black boy racers spend their time eating their big Mac's in the community carpark ,sniffing their nitreous Oxideand depositing their litter on the carpark floor. They trhen elevate themselves to the two storey Sainsbury car park practising donuts, wheelies etc to impress their molls whilst high as kites.I do wish they would kill themselves first before endangering innocent shoppers who wish to use the car park for their legitimate business without fear or danger. Of course, being on private property, the local police are pretty impotent but it doesn't take much effort to use police spotters within the property to alert a awaiting pursuit by radio on the public road when this low life trash exit the private car park.Arrest and scrappage of their pimped up wheels might just deflate their ego.

[david small]

What a sad s*** hole this country has become in many places. Diversity has sapped the very will of our national spirit. Apathy, fear, and liberal backlash strips our backbone as surely as a foreign invasion which in essence it is. If I knew where to go in this degenerate world I’d probably go there. Roll on my demise.

[Prudie]

It's not a new thing though is it? That's laughing gas and I'm sure back in the 80s I was aware of students etc partaking. I can't remember what funny name they gave it.

[Mamyalynne]

Surprised to find out that recreational use goes back as far as it does.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nitrous_oxide#Recreational_use

[fiction-factory]

Yes, I recall some medical students use to mess around with it, but it was only really student types. I don't remember seeing car parks littered with cannisters until maybe 12 months ago. I think I was wrong to think it was just something that Pakistani heritage youths do- it is round here, all in cars, doing it openly and leaving a mess- but Retrocop's example was a different community and the cannisters seem to be in most towns now so I suppose it must be white working class and middle class too, in fact all groups.
I'm going to fill my recycling bin today- I'm fed up of seeing them littering the streets and car parks

[Prudie]

whippets/whip-its - that' the name I was aware of

[spathiphyllum]

1. https://www.creamsupplies.co.uk/cream-whippers-chargers/cream-chargers

2. Yes (it's illegal to use them)

3. It;s here to stay, it's been around for a while.

4. they are not recyclable.

https://www.vice.com/en_uk/article/xwaxyz/your-nos-habit-is-trashing-the-earth

[fiction-factory]

Hi spath- it looks as if they are recyclable provided you make sure they are empty. I will flatten them first

[spathiphyllum]

you having a laugh? You're not going to be able to flatten them, they're solid!

There is an Indian chap who owns a corner shop my ends. He sells them boxes of 25. They're not my thing.. They're very dangerous