The Dangers of Laughing gas

I used to work in a highly specialised, controlled environment designed to manufacture semiconductor devices and integrated circuits on the tenth floor of the Ashby Building at Queen’s University Belfast. It was a clean laboratory where continuous filtration achieved 99.99% efficiency in removing even the smallest particles.

The air we breathe is a precise mixture of gases:

Nitrogen 78%, Oxygen 21%, Argon and trace gases 1%, and Carbon dioxide 0.04%.

On one occasion, an alarm sounded to warn that oxygen levels in the lab had risen too high, and we were instructed to evacuate until they returned to normal. It served as a powerful reminder of how vital—and how finely balanced—this mixture is for life. Disturbing it, even slightly, can have serious consequences.  So imagine my surprise when, this morning, I found something quite different on the doorstep of my apartment block, left out with the usual rubbish for collection.

There were around six blue canisters labelled Miami Magic—nitrous oxide. While commonly used for whipping cream, it is increasingly misused by young people for recreational purposes. I doubted anyone needed to whip that much cream and wondered who was using this substance here in Malta.

Nitrous oxide is now considered the third most commonly used drug among 16–24-year-olds in the UK, after cannabis and cocaine. Other surveys suggest that between 10% and 20% of teenagers and young adults in some European regions have tried it at least once. A global survey in 2021 estimated that nearly 24% of people aged 16–24 had used it. In the United States, poison centres recorded a 1,332% increase in annual cases of nitrous oxide poisoning over a 20-year period, with a particularly sharp rise from around 2023.

How it is used recreationally

Typically, the gas is released from the canister into a balloon—direct inhalation from the canister is dangerous due to the pressure and extreme cold. The user then inhales the gas from the balloon to experience its effects. In some places, young people pay around five euros for two balloons. As always, where there is demand, there are those willing to profit from it. Recent local reports have highlighted the growing use of this gas among young people in Gozo.

The Effects

Often called “laughing gas,” the effects are almost immediate but short-lived, lasting only a minute or two. They include light-headedness, euphoria, giggling, and altered perception. Because the effect is so brief, users often repeat the process multiple times in a session, increasing the risks. The name itself tends to downplay the seriousness of the substance.

Immediate risks

Nitrous oxide reduces oxygen availability in the body, which can lead to fainting, loss of consciousness, or, in extreme cases, death. The gas is stored under pressure and expands rapidly, which can cause cold burns—freezing the skin, lips, or throat if inhaled improperly. It can also affect heart and breathing function, particularly when combined with alcohol or other drugs.

With repeated or heavy use

Nitrous oxide interferes with vitamin B12, leading to deficiency. This can cause nerve damage, resulting in numbness, tingling, weakness, and difficulty walking. In severe cases, it may lead to long-term damage to the spinal cord or brain. Mental health may also be affected, with symptoms such as mood changes, confusion, and cognitive impairment. Some studies indicate that damage can develop within weeks or months of repeated use.

In response to these risks, governments are increasingly taking action. Malta has now officially banned the recreational use of nitrous oxide as of Wednesday, 29 April 2026. It is hoped that this measure will help reduce its use and prevent the harm it can cause—particularly among the young.

Senility and Sensibility

This year, at its end, I turn 60. The big 60, so I thought it timely to think of all the good things and bad about being this old.

1. Hair grows unexpectedly in noses, ears and on top of toes! I am grateful for the cosiness and warmth this generates.
2. I need to lean on walls to put on underpants but I'm grateful my knees still bend without pain.
3. I forget the names of people, places, dates and things but I'm so glad I'm clearing my brain of such unnecessary clutter.
4. I require glasses for close-up and far away. It's great! It's much easier to meditate while walking as I see no details without glasses and enter a less distracted zone.
5. I sometimes fear that others might spot my frequent mistakes. Such as forgetting why I entered the room, what I'm supposed to be doing or even what I've just done. I'm thankful that no one really gives a damn.
6. My face and body look like a deflated balloon. I'm so grateful that I've grown accustomed to this undulating landscape which grows increasingly textured.
7.  I no longer hear what some people say. I'm happy that most of the time I'm not missing much.
8.  I have developed an aversion to those suffering from middle-aged angst, especially men in their forties who suddenly grow their hair long, buy a motorbike and get an earring. But feel a strange kinship with adolescence and a deep abiding love for all small children and babies.
9. I'm no good at filling in forms or standing on buses but thankfully I've reached that sweet age when people are kind enough to help with forms and offer me their seat on buses.
10. At night, when I can't sleep, I convince myself I'm dying from some dreadful disease. As the hours go past I reach that delicious sense of detachment. I no longer give a damn. I'm too tired to care about dying.
11. I'm a little rough with people but then I was ever so!
12.  I get my sons names mixed up. But since I now also call my grandchildren by my son’s names they have stopped correcting me. I'm obviously no longer in correction phase but have moved into a stage worthy of pity.
13.  I hate a cluttered home and want everything in its place. The tidiness is inversely proportional to my completely chaotic mental state.
14.  I can pick arguments at the drop of a hat but good friends love me anyway.
15.  My mum is 85 so often forgets things. Fortunately, she remembers more than I! So that cheers her up considerably.
16.  I have surprisingly little and have grown accustomed to the lightness of that load.
17.  No one befriends me because I'm rich and that's a wonderful filter to find the real gems out there.
18.  I am an odd creature, even I notice that, but thankfully have begun to call it unique instead.
19.  My father used to say he had more real friends in the next world than in this one. I reckon mine is 50-50 but I've definitely lost some of the best.
20.  Small things can upset me disproportionately. Cause pacing and stomach churning. Thankfully, I have usually forgotten them by the next day.
21.  When I read newspapers I can no longer find news, just nonsense. When did reality and what they tell us diverge so completely?

Summary

Have I learnt anything from life so far? 

We have a tendency to worry about what we shouldn't 

and to ignore what we need to be doing. 

So worry less and do more!

Malta's Online Gaming/gambling industry - are we winners or losers?

These days there is a contagious disease spreading throughout the world and Malta is not immune. 

The growth of online gaming/gambling companies is explosive. You can be forgiven, not to have noticed their pernicious presence because they are usually to be found in office space not immediately apparent unless you start looking for them. For those of you who have ever thought of buying property, it must've struck you that suddenly you noticed for sale signs down side streets, at the top of apartment blocks, hidden down rural lanes or in newspapers in classified adds. Now that I've drawn your attention to the existence of these businesses, which encourage gaming/gambling, you might suddenly be shocked at the extent to which they have set up shop on this Island.

So what? You may ask! Surely they provide much-needed employment to a workforce that might otherwise have to leave the island to find a job. In addition, they pay valuable taxes to this country at a time when European countries are desperate to rebuild their economies.

So basically three questions need to be asked. How many exactly are we talking about? How many employees do they have and thirdly exactly what do they contribute to the economy? There is a fourth question. Exactly what damage they do society? How many people become addicted to their services and what is the fallout from these addictions.

In other words, do they actually end up costing us more money than they are worth? Many businesses fall into this category. For example, the tobacco industry causes the deaths of millions and yet argues strongly and effectively that it also substantially contributes, through taxes, to global healthcare finances. Since smoking kills more people than drinking and all other drugs combined, arguing that your industry is contributing to the health and well-being of citizens is a bit of a stretch. But the fast food industry along with food producers in the developed world have deliberately played a role in boosting obesity into epidemic proportions. The developed world is voraciously eating itself to death while the third world is suffering from starvation and malnutrition.

So obviously, addiction, whether that be food/alcohol/tobacco/sex or even gambling, is big business. Why focus on gambling when tobacco causes many more deaths? Well, our youth are the future and as such are a precious commodity indeed. The numbers of youth being targeted by gambling companies are breathtaking. The life consequences can be catastrophic. People used to complain that they worked all their life until 75 and when they retired got a watch and a poor pension in recompense. Today even the unemployed are entangled in the gambling business. For workers, the addiction can steal from them even the basic hard-won salary they earn and leave them debt-ridden and trapped. So what! I hear you ask. That is their folly, their choice! But is it?

These businesses target their prey at younger and younger ages. Just as the alcohol business design drinks for younger and younger clientele so too these gambling businesses are getting in earlier and earlier. If they can pounce at that fragile adolescence/post-adolescence stage when long-term consequences cease to be a discouragement to immediate choices, they're literally onto a sure thing. Baiting them with free money to start betting is a common practice. Additional money is given to those who introduce their friends and family to the sport. Loans are sometimes given to ensure that lack of funds does not become a handicap to this profitable addiction. Sometimes the interest rates on such loans provide an even larger part of the business profits.

Consulting the MGA Malta Gaming Authority website at http://www.mga.org.mt/gaming-sectors/remote-gaming/licensed-operators/ There are apparently 592 businesses who are licensed operators.  Given that it produces 8000 jobs and pays 52 million a year in taxes this gravy train is not going to stop anytime soon.  Since three of the earlier questions, posed, have been answered the fourth remains.  Perhaps gaming, unlike gambling, is not so bad?  What harm is playing games online, no one gets hurt surely?  It's just entertainment!  Unfortunately, addiction is not good for most people but especially for adolescents.  Online gaming addiction has been found to do something funny to their brains! 

A recent peer reviewed article on online gaming addiction http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0053055 gives worrisome findings.  It seems to show that structural differences occur in the cortical thickness of the brain between adolescents with online gaming addiction and normal subjects; This thickness was detected via High-resolution magnetic resonance imaging scans and coincided with impaired cognitive control ability.  In layman’s words it appears that addiction to online gaming messes with the brain in adolescents in scary ways.

There are forces at work that influence society in fundamental ways for the better or the worse.  The question is if these influences bring both financial rewards but also substantial damage to members of our society what should we do?

In the fog of change, you kind of lose stuff

When did it become so tricky to be a parent?

Somewhere after they hit adolescence

But before they gain independence

There’s a rough, rough patch

When they do all the wrong things

When you react in all the wrong ways

In the fog of change, you kind of lose stuff

Lose sight of how much they mean to you

Because you are so scared of all that’s out there

You question your parenting performance big time

Almost as much as your offspring do, but not quite

Bewildered at the pace of change you see in them

Blinded by a life time of holding this responsibility

Reluctant to let go of this precious trust

Shaken by their demands for freedom

But knowing that you have no choice to hold on

When does it become tricky to be a parent?

When they no longer need you to be around

But want you to see, they are transforming

And to embrace with joy what they have become.