[janalsncm]

In college I used a lot of nitrous. I got small cartridges and a “cracker” with a balloon. It was pretty euphoric.

I stopped after recording myself taking it. I was unconscious a lot longer than I remembered being, and even though I was probably never at risk of suffocating there were long periods where I didn’t see myself breathing. That was enough.

I regret the effects it may have had on my brain. It’s impossible to know the counterfactual “what if” and maybe binge drinking was worse.

[FuriouslyAdrift]

Long term use of nitros causes irreversable neuropathy... it does take a lot over time, though, and B12 treatments can help.

https://psychiatryonline.org/doi/full/10.1176/appi.ajp-rj.20...

[DebtDeflation]

>In college I used a lot of nitrous. I got small cartridges and a “cracker” with a balloon.

That brings back memories. I remember one time falling off the bed I was sitting on, cracking my head on the concrete floor, and laying there thinking "this should really hurt, but it doesn't..........at all".

[Tabular-Iceberg]

Unconscious from the hypoxia?

Why don’t recreational nitrous users mix in some oxygen like medical users do?

[mschuster91]

> Why don’t recreational nitrous users mix in some oxygen like medical users do?

Because they don't know better. It's not like we teach "safe consumption" in schools, and so most (particularly young) consumers of all possible kinds of drugs end up with cargo-culted consumption methods. Yes, Erowid etc. exist, but you need to know about that as well.

The correct thing to do would be to have "drug ed" similar to sex ed, but we see with the latter already how fierce political opposition to fact-based education can be, and with drugs it's going to be even worse.

[Tabular-Iceberg]

I get that, but for these pop-up shops selling to partygoers out of large tanks it seems like very little extra effort and expense for a dramatically improved user experience. Market forces alone should be enough to incentivize adding oxygen.

[klyrs]

Next you're going to expect them to use gases that are sourced for human consumption. But this is a gray market. Nitrous isn't meant to be used this way; so a gas supplier won't want to sell the healthier alternative for fear of getting caught knowingly selling it as a drug.

[dr_dshiv]

Markets are not entirely efficient, or else there’d be no work to do

[mock-possum]

Because you can buy little canisters of N2O at the gas station, you can’t buy little canisters of O2 to go with them.

If recreational nitrous was legal, and could be openly sold without the false pretense of being used to charge whipped cream - then I don’t see why not. You can get weed consumables in all different ratios and configurations.

[alan-hn]

Many nitrous users actually do mix in oxygen, and some long term users have elaborate setups for filtering and precise gas mixing

[lazide]

You don’t know many drug users eh?

[cess11]

Kind of weird question, since a clear majority of people are drug users and they are almost certain to know some of those.

[lazide]

Also known as a [https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhetorical_question].

Are many recreational drug users responsible about what they put in their bodies? Yes. The long lived in particular.

Do some recreational drug users find it a point of pride about how recklessly indifferent they can be about what they put in their bodies? Also yes.

There is also definitely a (small) subset of recreational drug users which actively seek out the worst possible things they can do to their bodies. The drug world version of [https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bugchasing].

I’m generally indifferent to recreational drug use, and have friends who are avidly in the first two categories. I’ve known people in the last, but found them too dangerous (and heartbreaking) to be around. Let’s not pretend they don’t exist.

[cess11]

Not sure what you mean but it seems you agree that drug use doesn't actually say much about a person.

[itishappy]

Hypoxia is euphoric. It's part of the intended effect.

[WorldMaker]

There's also the safer option to mix in some beer like Guinness drinkers do.

[robbiep]

That’s nitrogen gas (molecular nitrogen) not nitrous oxide