Inhaling nitrous oxide for a quick buzz isn’t some TikTok-born trend. It’s just the latest chapter in a weird, centuries-old love affair with a drug that makes the world blur around the edges.
Once nicknamed “laughing gas,” nitrous oxide was a 19th-century obsession among philosophers, poets, and partygoers who chased euphoria and metaphysical insights. Fast forward to today, and a modern twist has emerged: young adults turning to flavored “Galaxy Gas” canisters—officially whipped cream chargers—for recreational highs. Social media, especially TikTok, has propelled nitrous back into the cultural mainstream.
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“What’s different now is the ability of teen influencers to promote its use,” Robert Heimer, an epidemiologist at Yale School of Public Health, told The Smithsonian. In a TikTok video with over 4.4 million views, DJ Hootie Hurley shared his shock at witnessing widespread whippet use at a fraternity party, describing it as gross and unsettling.
People Are Still Getting High on Nitrous Oxide
The risks haven’t changed much either. Nitrous restricts oxygen to the brain, triggering floating sensations, dissociation—and sometimes blunt force trauma when reality abruptly snaps back. “It is very much possible that somebody in that moment could fall and hurt themselves,” warned Scott Hadland, an addiction specialist at Mass General for Children.
Galaxy Gas, with flavors like “Blueberry Mango” and packaging that wouldn’t look out of place in a vape shop, has drawn sharp criticism for how it markets itself. SZA sounded the alarm last fall: “Since when are we selling whip-its at the store?” she tweeted. “Somebody protect the children.”
If the online explosion wasn’t enough proof, Mardi Gras sealed it. Videos from Tulane’s campus showed frat houses buried in thousands of empty steel cartridges—a metallic trail of a high that lasts minutes but leaves a much longer mark.
The medical dangers run deeper than a bad fall. Regular use messes with vitamin B12 metabolism, leading to anemia, nerve damage, and memory problems. Hadland points out that prolonged oxygen deprivation to the brain doesn’t just wear off once the buzz fades; it stacks up, sometimes permanently.
Nitrous lives in a legal gray zone. It’s technically regulated under the FDA’s Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, but enforcement is spotty. Some states are cracking down—Louisiana banned retail sales for recreation, and Michigan criminalized non-culinary sales—but experts like Heimer are skeptical about criminalization fixing anything. “We got a lot more serious problems than worrying about some whippets,” he said.
Today, nitrous oxide exists in a familiar American limbo: part science, part counterculture, part legal headache—and still inhaled by those chasing a fleeting escape.
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