对于几十年来被滥用来作为消遣性药物的含氮氧化物（nitrous oxide），如今社交媒体上出现了一个新名称：Galaxy Gas。
总部位于佐治亚州的银河气贩售可将液体奶油转化为泡沫用于饮料和甜点的压缩罐装含氮氧化物。然而，视频网站上的内容——年轻人从彩色罐子里吸入带有香草蛋糕、草莓奶油等诱人风味标签的气体，在TikTok、YouTube和X平台上获得了数百万次浏览的关注。
社交平台上的“Galaxy Gas”一词以概括性术语迅速走红，有关该产品的可见度提升引发了对含氮氧化物危险性和青少年吸引力的新一轮担忧。虽说是作为食品用途合法销售的压力罐装气体，“银河气”公司于星期四暂停了销售相关产品，此前多段广泛传播的视频展示了年轻人从这些罐中吸入的情景。
一段显示一名男子从草莓味银河气罐上吸气的视频在X平台上被浏览超过2800万次。一个有近百万点击量的TikTok视频展示两名年轻人在一起浏览各种口味的银河气，他们正在两者之间选择“果粒汽水”与“西瓜柠檬茶”。
长期以来作为医疗麻醉剂使用的含氮氧化物（俗称“笑气”），几十年来一直被用作派对毒品。因此，很难准确估计有多少年轻人是因为这些视频而寻求含氮氧化物，但根据Google趋势的数据，在过去两个月里搜索“银河气”的次数显著增加。
关于年轻群体滥用吸入性物质的问题也日益受到关注：《英国医学杂志》2022年的一篇文章警告称医生们观察到因娱乐用的含氮氧化物使用而引发神经问题的年轻人人数有所增加。
根据美国国民药物使用与健康调查报告，大约有1300多万美国人生命中曾经滥用过含氮氧化物。一些州立法机关已对此采取行动：2021年纽约州通过法律禁止未满21岁的人购买含有该气体的奶油发泡器包装。
虽然在牙科诊所安全施用的笑气短期使用可能引起晕眩和头痛，并可能导致严重伤害，但没有医生监督吸入含氮氧化物非常危险。儿童紧急护理部门主任Grov医生表示：“短期内吸入后会导致头晕、头疼并影响判断力导致严重受伤，长期吸入还可能对心脏功能造成威胁。”
2024年发表在《成瘾》期刊上的一项文章指出，“虽然笑气有可能会上瘾，但目前科学界对此尚无定论。”此外，医生们也担忧慢性吸食该气体可能导致身体处理维生素B12的能力下降，引发神经疾病。
银河气公司一位发言人表示“对于最近的新闻报道和社交媒体上有关非法滥用我们产品的个人行为感到深切关注。”并补充说，“我们的使用条款及销售条件明确禁止非法使用、误用或吸引儿童。”
尽管Galaxy Gas已经停止售卖奶油发泡器包装，但仍有部分批发网站继续提供给烟店等客户。亚马逊和沃尔玛的平台上可以以低于40美元的价格购买来自其他品牌的含氮氧化物气罐。
TikTok不再根据搜索“银河气”展示视频结果，而是将用户引导至有关物质使用及成瘾的信息页面。公司代表表示，包含人们使用笑气的视频不被允许出现在该平台，但未提供移除多少视频的具体信息。
部分年轻人吸入含氮氧化物的视频在TikTok上有数十万次浏览量，并且在YouTube、X和Reddit等平台上也可轻松搜索到相关内容。此外，“银河气”罐也成为了Roblox这个有年轻用户群体的游戏网站上的虚拟配件。
艺术家SZA在X上表达了对“孩子般的设计与营销”的担忧，尤其是这种诱人的星状图案和亮丽色彩可能特别吸引年轻顾客。她担心该产品可能会被市场推广给黑人儿童。
奶油发泡器包装的时尚风格也让纽约长老会韦尔-康奈尔医学院的精神分析师兼附属医师盐泽医生感到担忧。“无论是有意识还是无意识中，信息传达的是这适合孩子使用。”
新闻来源：www.nytimes.com
原文地址：What to Know About Galaxy Gas, the Latest Name in Nitrous Oxide Misuse
新闻日期：2024-09-25
原文摘要：
Nitrous oxide, which has been misused as a recreational drug for decades, has a new name on social media: Galaxy Gas. Galaxy Gas, a vendor in Georgia, sells canisters of nitrous oxide that it says are meant to turn liquid cream into foam for beverages and desserts. But videos of young people inhaling the gas from colorful canisters — some of them advertising flavors like vanilla cupcake and strawberry cream — have gained traction on TikTok, YouTube and X in videos with millions of views. The visibility of the products on social media, where the name “Galaxy Gas” has taken off as a shorthand for nitrous canisters generally, has prompted a fresh wave of concern about the dangers of the gas and its appeal to young people. Galaxy Gas is best known for its whipped cream chargers: cylinders of pressurized nitrous oxide gas that are legal to sell as culinary products. The company paused the sale of its canisters on Thursday after several widely circulated videos showed young people inhaling from them. One video that shows a man sucking from a strawberry-flavored Galaxy Gas canister has been viewed more than 28 million times on X, according to the company’s analytics. A TikTok video with close to a million views shows two young people browsing flavors of Galaxy Gas together — and deciding between fruit punch and watermelon lemonade. Nitrous oxide, or laughing gas, has longstanding medical use as an anesthetic but has been misused for decades as a party drug called whippets. So while it is difficult to say how many young people have sought out nitrous oxide because of these videos, searches for “galaxy gas” have increased sharply in the past two months, according to Google Trends. Concern about the use of inhalants among young people has also been mounting: An article in The British Medical Journal warned in 2022 that doctors were seeing an increase in young people experiencing neurological problems as a result of recreational nitrous oxide use. More than 13 million Americans have misused nitrous oxide in their lifetimes, according to the 2023 National Survey on Drug Use and Health. And some state legislatures have taken action: In 2021, New York passed a law prohibiting people under 21 from being able to purchase whipped cream chargers containing the gas. While nitrous oxide can be safely administered in a dentist’s office, it can be “very dangerous” to inhale without a doctor’s supervision, said Dr. Purva Grover, the medical director of pediatric emergency departments at Cleveland Clinic Children’s. In the short term, the gas can cause dizziness and headaches, and can impair judgment to the point of serious injury, Dr. Grover said. Nitrous oxide can also imperil the cardiovascular function of people with low oxygen levels, she said: “That could lead to really bad things, including, your heart could stop.” A 2024 article in the journal Addiction noted that nitrous oxide “could well be addictive,” but that there was no scientific consensus. Doctors are also concerned that chronic inhalation of the gas can affect the body’s ability to process vitamin B12, Dr. Grover said, which can lead to neurological illness. A spokeswoman for the company wrote in an email that it was “deeply concerned about the recent news reports and social media posts of individuals illegally misusing our products.” She continued: “Both our terms of use and conditions of sale strictly prohibit unlawful use, misuse or appeal to children.” Although Galaxy Gas has stopped selling whipped cream chargers, its products are still listed on some wholesale websites that supply products to smoke shops. Nitrous oxide canisters from other brands remain available to order from Amazon and Walmart for less than $40 a canister. TikTok no longer shows video results for searches for “galaxy gas,” instead directing users to a page offering resources about substance use and addiction. A representative for the company said that videos of people using nitrous oxide were not allowed on the platform, but declined to share information on how many videos had been removed. Some videos of young people inhaling nitrous oxide remain on TikTok with hundreds of thousands of views. They are also available on YouTube, X and Reddit, where they are more easily searchable. Canisters of Galaxy Gas are also being used as virtual accessories on Roblox, a gaming site with a young user base. On Thursday, the musician SZA expressed concern that the look of Galaxy Gas could be especially enticing to young customers. “Something about the childlike designs and marketing is so spooky like … stars and bright colors?” she wrote on X, adding that she was worried about the product being marketed to Black children. The playful packaging of today’s whipped cream chargers also alarms Dr. Gail Saltz, a psychoanalyst and associate attending physician at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center. Misuse of nitrous oxide was a problem long before Galaxy Gas, she said. What is new is the brandishing of colorful packaging and novelty flavors on social media — a combination that is likely to help the products appeal well beyond the demographic of chefs preparing whipped desserts. “Consciously or subliminally, the message is, This is OK for kids,” Dr. Saltz said.
