News UK News Nitrous Oxide
Hippy crack can make you depressed, bald
and blind, scientists warn
10:14, 3 AUGUST 2015
BY DAVID WATKINSON
Raheem Sterling and actress Michelle Keegan have been caught
indulging in the trend
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High: Hippy crack is usually taken from a balloon but experts are warning about its impact on the body
Scientists are warning that so-called 'hippy crack' can make people go depressed,
bald and BLIND.
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The noxious legal high involves people inhaling nitrous oxide from a balloon.
ISIS
It is believed to be responsible for causing 17 deaths in the UK in recent years, but
now experts have discovered it can cause irreparable damage to a user's eyes.
Opthamologist and laser eye surgeon David Allamby, clinical director of London's
Focus Clinic, says nitrous oxide abuse can induce vitamin B12 deficiency.
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Legal high: Discarded balloons and canisters are a sign of people having taken hippy crack
Dr Allamby said: "The links between vitamin B12 deficiency and hippy crack are well
established, following a series of research papers.
"And this B12 deficiency causes damage to the optic nerve, something known as optic
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"It could be helped by huge supplement injections of B12, but the vision loss could
be irreversible, especially if advanced.
"And chronic abuse of nitrous oxide gas could not only lead to blindness, but a host of
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other problems, too, including nerve damage.
"I'd argue that if more and more people in the UK continue to abuse this so-called
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legal high we could be facing a sight loss epidemic in the months and years to come."
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The warning comes just days after 18-year-old Londoner Ally Calvert was found
collapsed in the street having apparently 'ingested nitrous oxide'. He later died in
hospital.
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ANIMALS
Nitrous oxide itself - which is a chemical compound with the formula N2O - is used
by some dentists as an anaesthetic.
While it's not illegal to possess and inhale the substance, it is against the law to
supply it to anyone under the age of 18.
The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency said: "Any retailers selling
or supplying an unlicensed medicine containing nitrous oxide for inhalation
purposes, or allowing it to be supplied other than in accordance with a prescription,
are in breach of UK medicines regulatory requirements."
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Tragic: Ally Calvert died after taking so-called hippy crack
Last year, the Local Government Association (LGA) issued a health warning and said
that councils were seizing large hauls of the drug using by-laws and street trading
legislation to take action.
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CILLA BLACK
But Martyn Hooper, chairman of the Pernicious Anemia Society, has urged the UK
government to do more to stamp-out hippy crack usage.
Writing in his upcoming book, 'What You Need To Know About Pernicious Anaemia
and B12 Deficiency', he states that, according to Home Office Figures, Nitrous Oxide is
now the 'second most used recreational drug after cannabis'.
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He adds: "It has more users than cocaine. Nitrous Oxide causes the user to laugh
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hence its more common name 'laughing gas' and it has one lasting side effect it
'inactivates' vitamin B12
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PA
Warning: Experts believe Nitrous Oxide can make people go bald and blind
"So the message is, even if you are tempted to join the party and sniff a lungful of
N2O be aware of the implications of B12 deficiency.
"A quick search of YouTube shows many videos of young people sucking in balloons
CILLA BLACK
Cilla Black talked
about her body
'falling apart' in
one of her final
interviews
EMMERDALE
of nitrous oxide and having a great laugh. Be careful."
In September 2013, England defender Kyle Walker issued a public apology after he'd
been caught inhaling hippy crack.
He said: "I have now been made aware of the health risks associated with the
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"I hope this will in no way influence or encourage others into putting their own
health at risk."
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