After the mayors of Drenthe yesterday expressed their joy about the ban on nitrous oxide, there is also support from youth work to ban possession and sale from 1 January.
“It causes mess, nuisance and can lead to serious accidents, especially in combination with alcohol. So I’m not sorry about it,” concludes youth worker Harry Heijes van Vaart Welzijn in Assen. “We have seen incidents in recent years, not only in Assen but also nationwide. If you use it occasionally, it can’t do that much harm, but it can do all night long.”
As a point of contact for Asser youth, he comes face to face with the laughing gas consumers of the provincial capital. It ranges from occasional users to fanatics who ‘use more than a cartridge’ one evening. He warns: “It is unhealthy, both mentally and physically. I am not telling the youth that using is not allowed, because I do not have that authority. I will discuss the risks.”
Health risks and the danger to fellow human beings are the main reasons for putting nitrous oxide possession – and use – on the list of prohibited substances. Heijs sums up: “Mental dependence, frostbite leading to burns and, in the long term, brain damage and paralysis.” Moreover, people are rather naive about laughing gas, while there is indeed a considerable danger in it. “The name suggests that it is harmless. ‘It makes you happy’, that’s the idea. And the use is not wrapped in stricter legislation such as with alcohol and tobacco. It is so wrongly perceived as harmless.”
In Assen, Heijes has not yet spoken to laughing gas users who get behind the wheel under the influence. “But I know they are there”, according to conversations on the street and with colleagues. He is also aware that the laughing gas circuit will continue to run after 1 January. “It is quite easy to hide, and it is difficult to enforce it. Moreover, young people are very inventive; they come up with something to get to it.”
What does he have to say to it? “Keep talking. Point out that it will soon be punishable by law. The penny cannot always drop immediately, sometimes that happens later,” he knows from experience.