The latest Arsenal scandal, which took place last August, highlighted nitrous oxide gas, also known as "laughing gas," especially as the gas used by the players at their party before the start of the English Premier League.
At the ceremony, a number of Arsenal players, including Messaud Ozil, Matthew Gundusi and Pierre Obamyang, inhaled laughing gas with balloons, to the extent that some players almost fell unconscious after being abused.
But what is the laughing gas used by these players, at their party? What are its risks? What are its uses?
What is a laughing gas?
Laughter gas or nitrous oxide is known to have the ability to change the mood of a person and is a medical anesthetic.
Gas is mostly used by dentists for anesthesia, and is sometimes used during labor to ease pain in women.
Many studies have found that the use of laughter gas without medical supervision is very dangerous, causing oxygen deficiency when inhaled, leading to suffocation and loss of consciousness due to low levels of oxygen in the brain, according to TheWeek.
The way it works
In addition to being used as an anesthetic, laughing gas prevents the signals from different parts of the brain from reaching the conscious mind, giving a temporary feeling of relaxation and rejoicing when inhaled.
According to British reports, the number of users of laughing gas is estimated at 569 thousand people, the majority of them in the age group between 16 and 24 years.
Is it legitimate?
The use of laughing gas for non-medical reasons is illegal in many countries. In Britain, however, each case is judged individually. The judge's or court's decision depends on the individual circumstances of each abuse case.
is he dangerous?
Like most chemical compounds, gases and drugs, laughing gas has short-term effects, usually headaches, dizziness, and loss of consciousness.
In the long term, excessive use may be accompanied by anemia, osteoporosis and numbness in the fingers and toes.
The recreational use of laughing gas can be fatal, although deaths are rare.
In one case, a 17-year-old teenager, in 2012, inhaled gas, suffered a thoracic angina and then fell into a coma that died. The anatomical cause of death was "hypoxia caused by brain damage" by nitrous oxide.
In 2015, a university student was found dead in his room in the inner house. His room contained about 200 gas bottles of laughter. The cause of death was "suffocation due to the chronic use of laughing gas."
