And, really, how dangerous can it be? Many women virtually breath the stuff for hours during labour, and the maternity sector is hardly jumping up and down about the adverse effects on either mother or babies.

// // freeze-burns to lips from inhaling directly from the nozzle of dispensers

//really? Has anyone ever experienced or even heard of this happening?
yup seen it..............

// yup seen it..............

ouch. actually nasty?

// Many women virtually breath the stuff for hours during labour

That's not strictly true. It's up to 50% N20, mixed with pure 02. If one were to hypothetically use it recreationally, I understand that one would usually use it neat, having attempted to exhale as much as possible, and then hold it in for as long as possible... and the alleged health risk comes as much from the not getting enough oxygen...
That said, if I remember my psychopharmacology correctly, it's also one of the least understood neurotransmitters

Incidentally, Kary B. Mullis, Nobel Prize winner, the man who discovered the Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR; it's the key step in replicating strands of DNA which allows DNA testing, and the isolation of the genetic sequence), kept a tank of nitrous in the corner of his lab for his own recreational use. Rather like the Cider House Rules, he had a method so that if he lost consciousness the pipe would fall from his mouth, but fucked up one day. He believes a supernatural phenomena saved him (he also got particular bad freeze burns). Incidentally, he also says that PCR came to him in a vision while he was driving through the desert, and he doesn't believe that HIV causes AIDS. He's a very smart man, but a bona fide tripper.

///really? Has anyone ever experienced or even heard of this happening

yeah it does happen, a mate of mine got his lip wasted from it, thats one of the reasons why doing it through a balloon is better,

// euphoria and dizziness

wahoo!

entirely positive. NO helps dilate certain blood vessels allowing the blood to really flow in down there... It's, ah, also related the chemical mechanisms exploited by things such as Viagra and Cialis...

Wow - that really is whiplash!

Yeah, except that air is about 15% oxygen, so 15% of bugger all is less. And it's not that stable, but it sits in equilibrium with another NO thing rather than free O2...
Although, ah, I think the problem is more with a carton a day for six months guy...

//Apparently, and this has been kept pretty quiet, it is a prescription drug already, and the sale of prescription drugs to someone without a prescription is punishable with up to six months prison under the Medecines Act.

....and lets not even get into the implications of holding hundreds of compressed gas canisters on your site without a location test certificate in place and approved handlers present at all times while the site is operating (Hazardous Substances and New Organisims Act 1996). Maximimum fine of $500,000 dollars (per breach), $50,000/day (per breach) whilst remaining non-complaint, insurance policy is void (without a location test certificate) and the potential of up too 3 months in prision - and if there are workers there then the operator can be nailed under the Health and Safety Act as well...

You should use a balloon instead.

Ah.. yes. I suppose I do.

Brain cells die everyday. I'd be more worried about things that cause the death of enough cells to make a quantifiable difference, like lack of oxygen. Or blood. Maybe we should ban blood. Because blood kills brain cells really quickly, and in huge numbers. Evil stuff that.

//...and dozens of products available on the market with little or no controls placed over//

I dont care about what's illegal or what isn't, but I'd rather heavy users face the facts for a change - you're not going to be a rocket scientist by inhaling THC...

//I'd rather heavy users face the facts for a change - you're not going to be a rocket scientist by inhaling THC...

Most heavy users i know have faced the facts along time ago, and really don't give a fuck. I don't think smoking weed limits your carreer choices.

//you're not going to be a rocket scientist by inhaling THC

I'm not sure about rocket scientists, but I think there's pretty good evidence that some moderate recreational drug use doesn't cause a problem for a good many scientists... (that Kary Mullis I mentioned earlier, apart from the nos and the nobel prize, also had a predilection for weed and LSD among other things). In fact, most neuroscientists I know who look at the effects of various substances on the brain don't seem too convinced by the evidence for deleterious effects...

//In fact, most neuroscientists I know who look at the effects of various substances on the brain don't seem too convinced by the evidence for deleterious effects...//

and all drugs aren't the same, so the effects wont' be the same either, but I'm guessing a substance that coats the outer surface of neurons, preventing nutrients entering, eventually causing them to die, isn't going to be good for overall intelligence - we think via connections between billions of these thikngs don't you know. Almost as bad as something that kills them directly.

Most drugs dont' kill brain cells either way, and as I've said I couldn't care less whats legal or what isn't, in my opinion e should be legal..

yeah, theres 3 different grades apparently... medical, food and automotive. Medical is now banned. food is available thru a loophole despite the late news showing the little cannisters. automotive is a cousin of mustard gas and should NEVER be inhaled. you'd drown in your own blood...

except most dentists etc. don't give you paint to sniff... suggesting at least at some level it's either more efficacious, more safe, or both...

I considered revising back to effective, but efficacious might have a slightly different meaning, which it acquired by now travelling through French... and it's slightly more medical. Did you know that it has its own antonym? Perhaps you should see if you can find an appropriate use for inefficacious before the year's out....

//except most dentists etc. don't give you paint to sniff... suggesting at least at some level it's either more efficacious, more safe, or both...

I wouldn't count on that... it has far more legislative controls on it than paint...

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