Revenue has seized more than €8.6 million worth of nitrous oxide, commonly known as laughing gas, since the start of the decade with recreational use of it having soared.
Figures from Revenue, released by Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe, show customs officials made 237 seizures involving some 250,000kg of laughing gas canisters between 2020 and last November 7th.
Nitrous oxide is not a prohibited substance and is commonly used in catering for producing whipped cream. A colourless gas, it is also used as a painkiller in dentistry and in childbirth, where it is mixed with oxygen.
It is also an extremely potent and long-lasting greenhouse gas. A number of hospitals have ended large-scale use of it as part of the HSE’s Climate Action Strategy, which aims to halve emissions from anaesthetic gases by 2030.
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To date, it has cost Revenue €1.6 million to dispose of 106,910kg of nitrous oxide, less than half of the total seized. This process requires a specialist hazardous waste disposal service.
Mr Donohoe said that where Revenue has “reasonable grounds” to believe importation of nitrous oxide “is intended for human consumption as a psychoactive substance”, it has power to seize the gas.
Sold in small metal canisters, nitrous oxide has become popular as a recreational drug, with the gas often being inhaled using a balloon. It can cause headaches, anxiety and paranoia, with frequent use linked to neurological damage and frostbite burns in some cases.
Revenue confiscated 100kg of laughing gas, worth €11,520, in five seizures in 2020. This rose to 101,144kg, valued at €3.57 million, across 70 seizures in 2021.
While the number of seizures rose to 116 in 2022, their value dropped, with 1,313kg, valued at €265,376, confiscated. In 2023, just 7kg was seized with a value of €428.
The amount seized increased last year, with 76,387kg, worth €3.495 million, confiscated in just 23 seizures. Between January and November 7th last, 34,869kg, valued at €1.285 million, was confiscated in 19 seizures.
The figures were released in a parliamentary reply to Social Democrats TD Aidan Farrelly, who said he was “intrigued” as to why the trend almost disappeared but appears to be growing again.
“We are talking about serious sums of money here, and if a State body is to continue seizing such significant amounts then what measures are in place to store and ultimately dispose of it?” he asked.
He said it is incumbent on the Government to treat the issue seriously and to address it “with expediency” following on from a Department of Health report last month.
The department published a summary of a stakeholder consultation calling for measures to tackle nitrous oxide use among young people. It said youth workers reporting that children as young as 10 were experimenting with the gas.
The consultation was part of the development of a successor to the National Drugs Strategy.
