Nitrous oxide has been linked to poisoning, burns and lung injuries. It can also cause neurological damage.
The European Monitoring Center for Drugs and Drug Addiction has warned of the growing use by young people, in a recreational context, of “laughing gas”.
This “laughing gas” has been associated with various health problems: poisonings, burns and lung injuries and, in some cases of prolonged exposure, neurological injuries.
Basically, they are cylinders of , a psychoactive substance, a chemical compound formed by nitrogen and oxygen molecules.
Nitrous oxide is colorless and has a slightly sweet taste, being used in areas such as medicine, as an anesthetic and analgesic in medical and dental procedures, and in the food industry, in whipped cream sprays.
Spreads in Portugal
In 2022 it joined the list of new psychoactive substances (NSP). AND prohibited its production, sale and possession outside of industrial or pharmaceutical purposes duly authorized by the National Authority for Medicines and Health Products (Infarmed).
But the compound is taking young people to hospital with serious injuries. And it’s spread in Portugal.
As seizures of nitrous oxide bottles increased almost 15 times between 2023 and 2025, going from 175 to 2,615, reveal data released by the GNR to the Lusa agency.
According to provisional data, cylinder seizures rose from 175 in 2023, to 207 in 2024 and shot up to 2,615 in 2025, an increase of 1,394% over the three-year period.
14 balloons were also seized in 2023, five in 2024 and three in 2025, the year in which 100 capsules were also seized, which contain “laughing gas”, which is inhaled through a balloon.
As for identified people in possession of this substance, the data also points to an increase: 24 in 2023, 26 in 2024 and 60 in 2025, totaling 110 in the last three years.
This year, on February 3rd, the GNR seized 2,124 nitrous oxide cylinders on a company’s premises transport of goods in Montijo, as part of an inspection to control goods in circulation.
“Although not exclusively, the consumption of nitrous oxide appears frequently associated with playful contexts, such as parties, festivals and nightlife establishments”, says the GNR in response to Lusa about the seizures of cylinders with this psychoactive substance that causes quick but short-lived effects of euphoria, relaxation, calm and dissociation from reality.
