数十年来被误用作娱乐性药物的笑气（nitrous oxide），如今在社交媒体上迎来了一个新称号：“银河气”。这一称号来自一家位于乔治亚州的供应商“银河气”，他们售卖着被宣传为用于将液态奶油转化为泡沫以供饮料和甜点使用的氮气罐。然而，短视频平台上充斥着年轻人们从五颜六色、标注有香草杯蛋糕或草莓奶油等口味的氮气罐中吸食的内容——视频点击量超过数百万，包括在X、TikTok与YouTube上。
社交媒体上的产品可见度引发了对笑气危险性及其对年轻人吸引力的新一轮关注。众所周知，“银河气”最出名的是它用于制作奶油枪（whipped cream chargers）的氮气罐：装有压缩氮气的圆柱体，法律允许作为烹饪用品出售。9月19日，在多段广为传播的视频显示年轻人们从它们中吸食之后，该公司暂停了售卖。
其中一个展示了男子吸食草莓味“银河气”罐子的视频在X上获得了超过2800万次观看。另一条拥有近一百万点击量的TikTok视频记录了两名年轻人一起浏览“银河气”的口味选择，并在水果拼盘与西瓜柠檬水之间犹豫不决。
尽管搜索“银河气”的次数在过去两个月内激增，Google趋势显示，但难以确定有多少年轻人大部分因这些视频开始寻找笑气。《英国医学杂志》2022年的一篇文章警告称，医生们注意到年轻人出现神经问题的增加，这是由于非医疗用途吸入笑气导致的。
据统计，大约有1300万美国人一生中曾误用过笑气，根据2023年《国家药物使用与健康调查》报告。一些州立法机构已采取行动：2021年纽约通过了一项法律禁止21岁以下的人购买含氮气的奶油枪。
据克利夫兰儿童医院儿科急诊科医疗主任普瓦拉·古弗博士表示，在牙医办公室安全施用笑气后，未经医生监督的吸入可能非常危险。短期内，它会导致头晕和头痛，并可能导致严重的身体损伤。过量吸入还可能导致心血管功能受损，特别是低氧水平的人群中。“这可能会导致很糟糕的结果，包括心脏骤停。”
2024年的一项《成瘾》杂志文章指出，笑气“很有可能会上瘾”，但科学界尚未形成共识。医生们也担心长期吸入会导致人体处理维生素B12的能力下降，从而引发神经系统疾病。
该公司的发言人通过电子邮件表示，“对于最近的新闻报道和社交媒体上的个人非法滥用我们产品的情况，我们感到非常关切。”发言人继续说道：“我们的使用条款和销售条件严格禁止不法使用、误用或针对儿童的需求。”
尽管“银河气”已经停止售卖奶油枪，但其商品仍出现在一些批发网站上，这些网站向烟店提供产品。亚马逊和沃尔玛可以以不到40美元的价格订购其他品牌氮气罐。
TikTok不再显示搜索结果中的“银河气”，而是引导用户至一个关于物质使用与成瘾的资源页面。公司代表称平台上不允许出现人们吸食笑气的视频，但未分享被移除的视频数量信息。
在TikTok、YouTube、X和Reddit上仍可以找到数以十万计观看量的年轻人们吸食笑气的视频。此外，这些罐子也用作Roblox游戏站上的虚拟配件，该平台吸引着年轻的用户群体。
最近，音乐家SZA对“银河气”看似吸引儿童的设计表示关切：“有些关于孩子们看到色彩斑斓设计和营销时的反应真是有点可怕……星星与亮丽的颜色？”她添加说担心这款产品可能被推销给非裔儿童。
该公司的发言人称，“银河气”的口味范围和鲜艳外观反映了其商品有时在烟店、成人用品商店等地方出售，作为“色情新奇品”。
“顾客使用‘银河气’来制作风味奶油润滑剂供娱乐之用”，她补充说，“我们的营销显然针对这种用途，并且我们从未试图将产品推销给儿童。”
不过，色彩鲜艳的“奶油枪”让纽约医院威尔康奈尔医学中心的心理分析师盖尔·萨茨博士深感忧虑。
在笑气滥用问题持续存在的情况下，“银河气”的新现象在于它标榜着鲜亮包装和新颖口味在社交媒体上的展示——这一组合很可能将产品吸引到了厨师以外的人群中。
“无论有意识还是潜意识，传达的信息是：这对孩子来说是可以接受的。”萨茨博士说。
新闻来源：www.nytimes.com
原文地址：What Is Galaxy Gas, and Why Are Young People Inhaling It?
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 Sept. 19 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. Last week, 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 Galaxy Gas spokeswoman said that its flavor range and colorful appearance reflected the fact that the company’s products were sometimes sold in smoke and sex shops as an “erotic novelty.” “Customers use Galaxy Gas to make flavorful whipped cream lubricants for their pleasure,” she said, adding, “Our marketing clearly speaks to this use, and we have never attempted to market or sell our products to children.” Still, the look of today’s whipped cream chargers 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.
