What kind of gas is in the balls in the clubs. Balls to colic

19.09.2012 10:11

In Russia, Smeshariki are gaining popularity - balloons with narcotic nitrous oxide

Night clubs of Russian megacities are actively trying a "tonic" novelty - laughing gas. It is sold in balloons and, when inhaled, makes people feel euphoric. Chemical composition The laughing product is nitrous oxide, a colorless gas with a sweetish taste and smell. Despite the fact that it is not included in the list of illegal drugs, there are already cases when club party-goers with its help made their way to psychiatric clinics. Doctors say that the use of intoxicating gas often leads to hallucinations, heart rhythm disturbances and even paralysis of the lungs, which can be fatal. But in search of thrills, Russian youth is easily ready to take even the most unjustified risk.

"Do you want to fly away? Breathe!
The desire to make money on human weaknesses makes the buzz sellers look for new narcotic baits not prohibited by law. When the business of intoxicating smoking mixtures (the so-called "spice") became a thing of the past, some kind of bath salts were offered to young people. And now it's the turn of balloons with laughing gas - "Smeshariki". Today they are gaining more and more popularity in the clubs of large Russian cities, gradually penetrating into the regions. Avid party-goers from Saransk are already sharing their "nitrogen experience" that they have acquired in Moscow establishments with might and main.
20-year-old student from Saransk Denis: “In one of the Moscow clubs, a friend suggested: “Do you want to fly away? Breathe! And gave a balloon with nitrous oxide. I tried it, everything rang in my ears. For some reason, with each beat, my heart sank with fear, but at the same time I wanted to laugh. The sounds coming from the dance floor were much more intense, especially the bass. You feel goosebumps all over your body, you feel at your best. In addition, the sense of time and will is lost. The obsession lasts a few minutes, and then subsides. It takes a few minutes, the effect is very short, someone lets go after 2-3 minutes, and someone after 10-15, it all depends on the individual characteristics of the organism.
In Moscow, "Smeshariki" indulge not only in clubs. I remember how Vorobyovy Gory I saw this picture: a guy of 18 years old was blowing laughing gas from a balloon into himself and drinking beer. He blew 6 or 7 balloons into himself, and after that he fell on a bottle of beer. He was picked up by his friends and carried to the car, he was passed out.

From euphoria to psychiatric hospital - one step
Laughing gas dealers claim that nitrous oxide is practically harmless, improves mood, relieves stress, and even improves brain function. “True, there are times when people faint,” the dope seller admits on the forum of his site. - But they breathed gas on their drunk head. Alcohol and laughing gas are absolutely incompatible."
In fact, nitrous oxide can easily send a person to the next world. Its first victims have already appeared in several countries. And in Israel, the distribution of nitrous oxide has already been banned. A case that occurred in early September in the Tambov region is indicative. There, two guys and one girl ended up in a psychiatric hospital as a result of significant complications that arose after the use of the so-called laughing gas. Young people took five balls at once for the evening.
“We have not yet received patients with an overdose of nitrous oxide,” says Nailya Glyamshina, deputy chief physician of the Republican Narcological Dispensary. - However, I know that in megacities the problem of nitrous oxide consumption is quite acute. After using this substance, patients experience sleep disturbances, mood swings, fears, anxiety, depression, which develops into aggression and is accompanied by hallucinations. People just can't control their emotions.
Nitrous oxide quickly squeezes oxygen out of the lungs, eventually stopping the saturation of the blood and, accordingly, the brain with oxygen. If a person breathes laughing gas for at least a few minutes, pneumonia and asphyxia can occur. An overdose of nitrous oxide can cause serious poisoning and, in some cases, death. What dose for this or that person is normal - nobody knows. Laughing gas can be addictive, as with any substance that causes euphoria. Nitrous oxide impairs the functioning of the central nervous system, cardiovascular activity, makes it difficult for muscles to work, impairs vision and hearing. An hour of inhaling nitrous oxide can lead to serious neuralgic disorders such as flaccid paralysis, in which some part of the body, such as an arm or leg, fails.
Despite the fact that the substance is not yet on the list of prohibited drugs, I strongly recommend that you refrain from using it.

Gas "sets of happiness"
Technical nitrous oxide is produced in Russia at only one plant - Cherepovets Azot. "Are you joking? Do nightclubs voluntarily breathe nitrous oxide? - the chairman of the trade union organization of the enterprise Denis Brodkov cannot believe. - Same dangerous product, it affects the psyche! Our shop workers suffer from it, they constantly walk around with crazy eyes.
And entrepreneurs have already flooded the Internet with numerous offers to deliver cylinders with "merry nitrous" to any address. At the same time, the cost of one 10-liter cylinder, together with a set of balls, ranges from 3.5 to 5 thousand rubles. Basically, they promise to supply technical or medical nitrous oxide, but there are also proposals for food. It is available in small cans - one is just enough to fill the balloon. Such cartridges are brought to Russia from Germany or Taiwan. The cost of 10 mini-cans varies from 1 to 1.5 thousand rubles. Some merchants have even developed entire sets. In a cardboard box with a company logo fit 10 small cylinders, balloons, a special bottle opener and a glove so as not to freeze your hand during transfusion. At the same time, companies undertake to deliver goods around the clock. In clubs, the price of one ball varies from 200 to 500 rubles. It is clear that traders earn good profits on the balls.

Another legal dope
As the VS journalists established, half a year ago, sellers of balls with “ridiculous” gas were already trying to turn around in Saransk, they drove around the city in a car advertising laughing gas. Then law enforcement the republics found a way to cover up the trade in dangerous dope. Now the sale of cheerful gas is carried out in the capital of Mordovia through stores quite openly. One of them is located on Khimmash - officially the outlet specializes in selling flowers, and at the same time sells intoxicating gas. As an employee of the store said, you can buy a small cylinder of laughing gas for only 100 rubles. When buying large quantities, a discount is provided - 10 cylinders cost 800 rubles, and 20 - 1200. “Laughing gas is nitrous oxide in pure form, not mixed with oxygen, - assured the saleswoman of the flower shop. - Are balls included? No, balloons need to be bought separately, but a special bottle opener is attached to the cans!
In Saransk, laughing gas is actively offered to be purchased for weddings to cheer up numerous guests. In addition, you can try "Smeshariki" in the nightclubs of Saransk, because there is no legal ban on the sale of nitrous oxide, at least not yet.

P.S. Literally the day before - September 18 - it became known that the Federal Drug Control Service intends to ban the sale of laughing gas in Russia. The corresponding proposal will be sent to the Government of the Russian Federation in the near future. This was stated by the head of the Russian drug police Viktor Ivanov. According to him, laughing gas causes great harm to the body, damaging the central nervous system. Before that, the chief sanitary doctor of Russia, Gennady Onishchenko, demanded a ban on the free sale of nitrous oxide, since its use at home could be fatal.

"Evening Saransk"

The new anti-drug unit of the Ministry of Internal Affairs - the Main Directorate for Drug Control (GUNK) - took care of the problem of laughing gas, which young people loved so much. Cylinders and balloons with gas are sold both by online stores and numerous private dealers at parties, near clubs and on the streets. Young people get high from laughing gas, and sometimes get poisoned. Now the Ministry of Internal Affairs is going to open criminal cases for the sale of N 2 O gas without permission. The police have already asked the Ministry of Health for its experts to determine the dose of nitrous oxide sufficient to initiate a criminal case.

Old problem with new parts

On Vorobyovy Gory, right opposite the main university of the country, there is a pretty battered silver Nissan. Tied to the open trunk is a string of colorful balloons. Nearby is a gas cylinder with which the balloons are pumped. Everyone understands what kind of car it is: from time to time, groups of young people come up to the car and buy two or three balloons. Balls are not for their beauty at all. They are only interested in the contents - nitrous oxide, laughing gas, which they are going to inhale. There is no danger for the seller - formally, the sale of nitrous oxide is not prohibited.

Laughing gas in the capital - and not only - youth parties began to gain popularity since 2012. Then in clubs, at parties and in other places where young people gathered, one could find suspiciously cheerful companies with balloons in their hands. From time to time, the youth kissed the balloons, inhaled the gas from them, and laughed out loud.

Sometimes there was no time for fun - there were poisonings. At one time, the State Drug Control Service was going to punish the sellers of laughing gas under the criminal code, but this initiative quietly died. Now the legal successor of the State Drug Control Service - the Ministry of Internal Affairs - has decided to revive this idea. According to sources, the direct reason was the number of consumers of this gas, which has not significantly decreased over 4 years.

In different regions of the country, cases of active distribution, as well as the use of this gas, which had serious consequences for the health of citizens, were recorded, a source in the Ministry of Internal Affairs told Life. - Criminal cases have been initiated against nitrogen distributors, the courts have already issued a number of convictions.

Therefore, the Ministry of Internal Affairs is going to add laughing gas to the list of potent and toxic substances. And also bring its turnover under the already existing criminal article 234 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (" Illicit trafficking strong or poisonous substances for sale"). It now provides for a sentence of up to eight years if someone decides to illegally manufacture, buy, sell or transport any strong and poisonous substances that are not drugs. Now in the list of these substances are planned to include laughing gas, as well as xenon.

So far, the police have no reason to punish for the distribution of this gas. According to the law, he is not recognized as a drug, which means that he does not fall under the jurisdiction of the drug police. So they fight as hard as they can.

We can only bring laughing gas sellers to administrative responsibility for illegal trade, since they usually sell balls without being registered as entrepreneurs, one of the police officers in the Tambov region, where this hobby has also spread, told Life.

fun concentration

In order to make changes to the Criminal Code, it is first necessary to assess what dose of gas can be dangerous when inhaled. For this, the Deputy Head of the Main Directorate of Drug Administration, Sergey Sotnikov, sent a corresponding request to the Director of the Department of Drug Provision of the Ministry of Health, Elena Maksimkina.

Sotnikov asks Maksimkina to evaluate the gas concentration, from which an analgesic (pain-relieving) effect occurs. Based on this concentration, the police are going to determine the minimum dose, starting from which the gas will be banned from free circulation. That is, if, for example, a person gets a buzz from 5 grams, then, starting from this volume, it will no longer be possible to buy it just like that.

In the same request, Sotnikov mentions another gas from which a buzz comes - xenon. He also asks to estimate how likely it is that xenon will be used as a soft drug, in which case xenon should be included in the article.

Given the anesthetic effect, analgesic and anti-stress effect of xenon, I ask you to express your opinion whether it can be used for an intoxicating effect, adds Sotnikov.

Xenon, it should be noted, is already included in the list of intoxicating substances. It has 12 items in total. This includes, in addition to xenon, diphenhydramine, barbiturates, chloroform, antipsychotics and clonidine. These are not drugs, but potent substances that can influence a person's behavior.

With this list, they say in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, there is one big problem - no one knows what to do with it. The list of intoxicating substances was compiled by members of the Standing Committee on Narcotics Control ( PKKN ) 15 years ago, but the PKKN collapsed, and since then the document has actually lived its own life, like a restless one. One of the few uses of this list is in sentencing in criminal cases. The use of substances from this list is considered as an aggravating circumstance if a person, being under their influence, commits some kind of crime.

At the same time, the list does not have a specific legal status, and no one in the Ministry of Health is responsible for filling it out and assessing the degree of exposure to the substances included there, the source complains.

Therefore, the Ministry of Internal Affairs is also asking the Ministry of Health to clarify what to do with this list and how it can still be applied legislatively.

Who turned on the gas?

To understand where the main supplies of laughing gas come from, the operatives spent a long time and carefully searching the Internet for online stores that sell nitrous oxide. They were not interested in "nitro" tanks, which are used to tune cars, but either food bottles or balloons for inflating balloons.

To date, laughing gas is sold at retail in cans of 8 grams or large cans of 3.5 and 10 liters, and is also sometimes pumped into ordinary balloons, which are sold by the piece, a source in the Ministry of Internal Affairs shared with Life.

Often, they write to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, gas goes through Chinese online stores. They send gas in small portions, 8 grams in a can. Already in Russia, devices for inhalation and opening cans are attached to such parcels - the so-called N 2 O Cracker. In slang they are called "openers".

But even half the trouble, if the gas came only from abroad. Unfortunately, buzz-seekers are actively buying for the whole honest company huge domestic cylinders, which are produced at the MedGazService plant in Cherepovets. Operatives do not rule out that this became possible due to poor control at the plant itself.

The trends of the last two years show that larger nitrous oxide cylinders have become more popular - from 3.5 to 10 liters, costing from 2 to 11 thousand rubles. They are positioned as a means for "good mood" and parties, - said the source. - Until recently, the origin of such cylinders could not be established, but many sellers on their websites call the gas producer a plant in the Vologda region "MedGazService". True, they present only copies of certificates that are easy to forge.

According to the police, this is the only plant for the production of N 2 O in Russia. They were very concerned that nitrogen from this plant was freely sold on the Internet. Therefore, in their letter to the Ministry of Health, they demanded to pay attention to this plant and control its activities.

In particular, the police requested the results of all inspections that took place at the enterprise in 2013-2016. According to Life, over the years, the plant was checked only nine times by auditors from Rospotrebnadzor, Rostransnadzor, Roszdravnadzor and the traffic police. Only one violation was found, and it was not related to the production process, but to the infringement of the labor rights of a disabled employee.

The head office of MedGazService is located in Cherepovets. The plant positions itself as a manufacturer of gases for technical and medical purposes. Products - cylinders with carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide or oxygen. At the plant itself, Life was not given a comment, citing the fact that the management was not at work.

The police did not stop at studying the “jambs” of one plant and asked the Ministry of Health to tell in general about the measures that the department is taking to prevent misuse of gas. They also requested regulatory documents that indicate the rules for the sale and transportation of this volatile substance in the country.

Experts disagree

According to the chief toxicologist of the Ministry of Health, director of the "Scientific and Practical Toxicological Center" of the FMBA, Yuri Nikolayevich Ostapenko, it is necessary to limit the circulation of laughing gas, because this gas causes too serious consequences.

It is necessary to limit the free circulation of nitrous oxide, or the so-called laughing gas. This substance is not for general use. By itself, this is an industrial gas that doctors use for anesthesia, both in anesthesiology and in emergency care. But by no means for it to be bought and inhaled anywhere, at every corner. In addition, its uncontrolled use can lead to asphyxia (suffocation) and death. After all, people breathe it like: from some bags, from some balloons. So you can lose consciousness and suffocate. And if it is used in medical conditions, it must be mixed with oxygen. There, its concentration is calculated so that hypoxia does not occur. And the most unpleasant thing is that it is addictive, like a drug. There were cases, even before the nitrous oxide craze, when some doctors, having tried it as a laughing gas, then became addicted, and they developed an addiction, Yuriy Ostapenko told Life.

Concerning possible consequences for the body, then here, says Ostapenko, everything is very individual. If you inhale the gas once, of course, there will be no serious consequences. But if a person is addicted to gas and inhales it too often, brain cells will suffer or hypoxia will occur, that is, a decrease in oxygen in the blood. Degenerative changes can also occur in the lungs. In general, according to Ostapenko, under certain conditions, the passion for laughing gas can even develop into an addiction to other, harder drugs.

But the narcologist believes, on the contrary, that there is no particularly strong dependence on N 2 O.

I do not see this as a big problem yet, in my opinion, this is all greatly exaggerated. I did not have such patients. I have never seen a dependence on nitrous oxide, - Alexey Egorov, a professor at the Department of Psychiatry and Narcology at St. Petersburg State University, told Life. - Yes, and there are no special consequences for the body. Nitrous oxide can be addictive, but it's the same as any volatile inhalants. According to this logic, everything can be banned. I don't know how far the restrictions should extend in such a case. Let's ban lighters then, because they also contain gas that can also be sniffed. Let's ban gas stoves.

Sad Consequences of Happy Gas

While the powers that be decide what to do with laughing gas, it causes mostly unhappy consequences. For example, in 2015, at the intersection of Nakhimovsky Prospekt and Simferopolsky Boulevard, seven cars crashed soft-boiled. The reason was Mercedes, which rammed six foreign cars at a traffic light. A company of five young people fell out of a Mercedes car. For some reason, they took a gas cylinder out of the trunk and tried to shift it into the trunk of one of the mangled cars. According to eyewitnesses, the young people were under laughing gas. Later it turned out that four people were injured in the accident, one died.

And in 2012 that three teenagers from the Tambov region inhaled N 2 O, after which they ended up in a mental hospital with depression, hallucinations and attacks of unmotivated aggression.

Back in 2012, the Federal Drug Control Service (FSKN) actively advocated for a ban on laughing gas. Drug control operatives then even massive raids on gas dealers who stood right in the center of Moscow, on Bolotnaya Embankment.

However, a year later, the department's position changed dramatically.

We looked at this problem: laughing gas users are a thousandth of a percent of all drug users. This does not form any kind of systemic problem, - Viktor Ivanov, director of the Federal Drug Control Service, told reporters in Moscow in December 2013.

A new fun is walking around Ivanovo nightclubs - laughing gas, or, scientifically, nitrous oxide launched into balloons. When inhaled, this gas causes a fit of fun and laughter, but more often brings visitors to fainting.

Irina Maslova and her boyfriend often visit one of the Ivanovo nightclubs on weekends. She has known about balloons with laughing gas for a long time - she even tried it several times. Until recently.

“My young man, having inhaled gas from a balloon, lost consciousness. It looked like an epileptic seizure: he rolled his eyes, convulsed. I brought him to his senses as best I could, hit him on the cheeks ... So here they are, these “harmless” balls ”- says Irina. According to her, such a dangerous "laughter" is sold in almost all clubs in the city, and everywhere the price is fixed - 100 rubles per ball.

At one of the Ivanovo forums, there was even an advertisement for the sale of 10-liter cylinders of laughing gas. Its cost is 7 thousand rubles. True, when refueling again, the seller promises to reduce the price to five thousand. Under the guise of an ordinary city dweller, I tried to contact the author of the ad and “order” one such cylinder from him. The attempt was not successful: the seller did not get in touch ... By the way, on the same forum there was a message that just the other day a young Ivanovo resident, having inhaled laughing gas, lost consciousness and died.

“What is happening, in my opinion, is simply outrageous. Are we in the 19th century? Nitrous oxide, this very laughing gas, was discovered over 200 years ago, in the 1840s it was used in the States to demonstrate chemical experiments in public: they let them breathe - and the person “went crazy”. Well, after the dentist, Wells saw how one such test subject fell, broke his knee into blood, but continued to laugh without feeling pain, and realized ... that you can make money on this gas - pulling out teeth is completely painless ... Nitrous oxide now used only in medicine as an anesthetic. But do not forget that this is a drug that in no case should be used for other purposes. It feels like we went back 200 years.”, - the chief anesthesiologist commented on the situation Ivanovo region Professor Evgeny Shchennikov. He added that doing business for people's health is blasphemy, we already have enough acetone and drugs that ruin the youth.

“Nitrous oxide should only be used by a professional! After all, one breath of this gas can twist the brain so much that then a person will remain insane for life. It's at its best"- added Evgeny Pavlovich.

Anyone can buy nitrous oxide, despite the evidence of harm to health caused by laughing gas. However, the Ivanovo police have already begun to fight him.

“The sale of laughing gas in a number of cafes and nightclubs in Ivanov came to the attention of the operatives of the security department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs back in May. We spent several test purchases so-called "balls of happiness" and conducted an examination. In the Ivanovo Bureau of Forensic Medical Examination, they explained to us that this gas adversely affects human health - it can lead to suffocation and pulmonary edema ", - told the Ministry of Internal Affairs in the Ivanovo region.

Ivanovo detectives appealed to the heads of entertainment establishments with a request to stop trading in a substance harmful to health. “Someone immediately refused to trade in laughing gas, someone stubbornly continued to poison their clients. Then the leadership of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for the city of Ivanovo decided to suppress this activity, ”- told the police. All the materials collected by law enforcement officers were sent to the Investigative Committee, where the issue of initiating a criminal case is being decided.

By the way

One organization that sells laughing gas in the region seized 13 cylinders of nitrous oxide. One bottle can fill 200 balloons. As it turned out, the sale of laughing gas in one of Ivanov's nightclubs accounts for a third of the establishment's total profit.

Unbridled fun literally in one breath is promised by enterprising businessmen to thrill-seekers. An anesthetic drug, nitrous oxide, is marketed as a sure remedy for bad moods. They are sold both in fashionable clubs and on the Internet. Distributors of so-called oxygen balloons claim that they are harmless. But doctors are sure otherwise. Gas euphoria can cost a person their life.

A picture of complete serenity on Sparrow Hills during the day. Newlyweds release balloons into the sky. But as soon as it gets dark, other balls appear here and a completely different mood. In inconspicuous cars, cylinders stick out directly from the trunks, and balls sway invitingly in the wind. The observation deck is fully gasified.

All these people are not children's matinee, and they react very nervously to the camera. The patrol from the car with flashing lights does not pay any attention to what is happening - there are more worries with the racers. Although those who laughing gas also know firsthand.

"There is, I say, the 99th with nitrous oxide. She has a thousand Horse power with the button pressed," Konstantin Ivanov, the organizer of racing races, reacts to the usual phrase.

Special cylinders are installed in the trunk to spin the engine up to fantastic speeds. But the same thing can be done with your own body, if you put the same gas not into the engine, but directly into the lungs. There is no longer a thousand horsepower, everything is much more serious.

The very center of Moscow. The concentration of trendy places per square meter is over the top, and trendy entertainment too. Balloons are sold in fashionable clubs, and all the sidewalks are strewn with them - as if a squad of Octobrists was having fun here.

“I can even drive. Look, now I’ll get puffed up, I’ll sit down and go to Maryino,” one of the nitrous connoisseurs promises.

Nothing illegal here, it seems, is happening - not a single law prohibits it from being sold or consumed, including while driving. The doctors are horrified - the seemingly tamed genie is starting to break out of the cylinders more and more confidently.

“Overdose is possible, because in medicine we do not use pure nitrous oxide, but we always mix it with oxygen so that there are no side and toxic effects. And here the gas is pure, right? Pure nitrous oxide with a slight overdose can cause hypoxia, which can be fatal ", - returns to reality the head of the department of anesthesiology and resuscitation of the Military Clinical Hospital of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation Arkady Sergeev.

In 1844, the dentist Horace Wells conducted the first public experiment in a university auditorium. But something did not calculate - and the gas went to the people. The students laughed to tears. And the dentist soon died. Today, all these entertainments, even with home delivery, can be bought completely legally and with a cash receipt. The site guarantees safety and fun, but warns that reactions may vary.

Special sets for 1200 rubles contain ten servings - for ten breaths. According to the descriptions, it feels like you are on Elbrus, because your lungs and brain lack oxygen, and you are about to lose consciousness. Doctors are categorical: this can only happen for anesthetic purposes and in the presence of an anesthesiologist who controls the percentage of the mixture. Pure gas can lead to death - such cases are known.