News about Humphry Davy

Known recreationally as 'laughing gas', 'hippy crack' or 'nos' the drug inhaled, commonly via balloon, to create a temporary feeling of relaxation and euphoria. But now nitrous oxide - sometimes called 'laughing gas', 'hippy crack' or 'nos' - is quickly going out of fashion. Usage rates have halved in the wake of the pandemic, official figures suggest. The downturn comes amid a spate of deaths linked to the substance, sold in little silver cannisters that litter the streets, and typically inhaled though a balloon just like helium. Business student Ellen Mercer, 24, from Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire, became the latest confirmed casualty of nitrous oxide use. Yesterday an inquest heard how Ms Mercer, who died in hospital last February, was ordering huge bottles of the drug up to three times a day. Some former addicts have shared how they went through up to 500 cannisters in a weekend, describing it as 'more addictive than cocaine'.