Appropriate use: As the Dental Digest puts it, "Nitrous oxide is the oldest and only inorganic anesthetic agent still in clinical use today. It has provided years of reliable relief from pain. When administered appropriately, nitrous oxide is a very safe and valuable asset in decreasing the pain and anxiety experienced by dental patients".
In the lots: Nitrous is illegal to distribute, unhealthy to consume, and expensive to buy, and is thus often called "hippie crack". Various forms of the gas are sold illicitly in parking lots at Phish shows. (Beware: Some may be dental, but much of is automotive or maritime!) Dispensed in balloons, it is referred to as “hippie crack” due to the price, numbness, addictiveness, health effects, and illicit trade.
Note these "facts about Nitrous Oxide" listed on official information flyers which, beginning summer 1996, have been sent with mail order and Ticketmaster tickets and distributed upon entry to parking lots. (Bracketed items are Lemuria's and other's additions; nonbracketed items are verbatim.)
Nitrous oxide cuts off the flow of oxygen to the brain. [Which, according to JC Martin can cause brain damage, although Jason Giglio clarified, "The dangers associated with hypoxia (sp?) are usually caused by prolonged breating of only nitrous, during which time, or course, you aren't breathing any oxygen. It doesn't interfere at all with the body's mechanism of absorbing oxygen. ... I am not an advocate of the use of nitrous oxide for recreational purposes, but I do hate it when people spread misinformation."]
Numerous medical emergencies have occurred due to its ingestion, ranging from concussions (falling down after passing out) to, in extreme cases, death.
Some confiscated "nitrouts" tanks actually contained other gases such as argon, automotive nitrous, etc. which are extremely dangerous. [There is an enormous difference between pharmeceutical nitrous oxide used by dentists and other nitrous compounds used, for example, in racing cars and boats.]
Sales and possession of Nitrous Oxide is illegal in the state of Virginia [and in many other states, and is heavily regulated in the rest. Moreover, distribution of any commodity on private property requires permission and/or license, neither of which would ever be granted for distribution of nitrous. However, Jason Gilgio reported "This I know FOR A FACT is wrong. Nitrous is available in VA, and legal. A task force MAY be formed to research whether any legislation is necessary, but as for now, there are no laws governing nitrous in VA."]
Remember, if you purchase nitrous oxide, you are likely to be supporting people who care nothing about, and contribute nothing to the Phish community. [Nitrous is often distributed by groups characterized, and characterizable, as "the nitrous maffia". Relatively organized sales cohorts often have lookouts, common or intermingled treasury, even cooperative security in their efforts to prey on an otherwise largely wonderful scene, with little or no interest in the music or anything else besides making a buck, of which they make greedily plenty.]
And, according to MTV's PopUp-Videos' send off of Devo's "Whip It", nitrous "whippets" can cause "frostbite, paralysis, or dementia."
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