ACT to ban nitrous oxide sales to minors after teen's drowning
The ACT will ban nitrous oxide sales to under-18s. This follows a teen's 2023 drowning death while affected by the gas.
In 2023, an 18-year-old drowned in his car at Isabella Pond in Canberra while affected by nitrous oxide. A coroner's inquest into his death prompted action.
Health Minister Marisa Paterson has tasked officials with regulatory changes to ban sales of nitrous oxide to minors over the next year. They will also restrict supply.
The ACT will model its approach on NSW, which banned sales to under-18s in July. Nitrous oxide, colloquially called nangs, was widely available in the ACT and could be bought for immediate home delivery.
The gas has legitimate uses in medicine, dentistry and industry. But recreational inhalation carries serious health risks including dizziness, loss of coordination, impaired judgment, psychosis and loss of consciousness.
Repeated use depletes vitamin B12, potentially causing neurological damage, difficulty walking and paralysis. The coroner flagged nitrous oxide use among young people as a concern in the ACT.
- 2023
- Year of death
- Isabella Pond, Canberra
- Location
- July
- NSW ban date
Why it mattersBanning sales to minors removes access to a drug with serious, sometimes fatal health consequences. It also prevents impaired judgment that creates immediate safety hazards like dangerous driving.
AustraliaThe ACT joins NSW in moving to restrict recreational nitrous oxide use by young people, part of a national shift to regulate a substance easily purchased but rarely understood as harmful.
✓ Claims checked against the source and corrected before publish. checked 1 h ago
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