‘Everyone is using them’ parents warned as vape-style flavoured ‘hippy crack’

SUPER-SIZED nitrous oxide canisters boasting vape-style candy flavours are sparking a new wave of addiction – despite laughing gas being banned last year.

A Sun investigation found dozens of adverts on apps, including Instagram and TikTok, featuring colourful branding and marketing of new flavours, including strawberry, which are clearly being aimed at young people.

Addicted users are reportedly blowing hundreds of pounds a week on the extra-large aluminium cylinders, which are 76 times bigger than the old bullet-like containers that littered high streets across Britain.

But experts have warned that the new 640g canisters – which cost up to £40 and can still be bought online and under the counter in certain areas – are proving more addictive than cocaine.

Some addicts are sucking the gas, also known as ‘hippy crack’, straight from the tube rather than using a balloon to limit the dose, as was common in the past.

The results can be catastrophic, with people ending up in hospital, suffering from paralysis and mental health issues.

One young woman whose addiction left her in a wheelchair admits that since nitrous oxide was outlawed last November, she fears “being illegal has made it even more popular”.

Companies are able to get around the latest rules by claiming they are selling the canisters for its legitimate purpose, which is making instant whipped cream.

Dr Niall Campbell, a consultant at the Priory hospital in London, told The Sun: “People don’t use the little silver cartridges anymore, that’s all in the past.

“These big blue canisters are the equivalent of about 76 of the little cartridges and everyone is using them.

“The guys that manufacture this – there are several companies that do this – twigged on that they can sell more and they know that young people aren’t making whipped cream with them.

“There are fruit-flavoured versions and God knows what that does to your lungs.

“There’s a big fad around this and it’s become fashionable.”

Earlier this month, we reported a Premier League star has become the first footballer to go to rehab over laughing gas addiction.

The Government has also announced plans to crack down on fruity and colourful e-cigarettes, amid concerns their design is specifically targeting underage users.

BREAKING THE BAN

Nitrous oxide was made a Class C drug under the Misuse of Drugs Act from November 8 last year.

This means it is now a criminal offence to be found in possession of laughing gas where its intended use is to be wrongfully inhaled to get high.

It was already an offence to import, supply and produce laughing gas, when the person knows it will be consumed for ‘psychoactive effects.’

But the law has been flouted for years and we can reveal that the drug is still widely available despite the new ban.

Our probe found one shameless firm – which uses photos of glamorous models to promote its supersized products – was even boasting on social media that it is trying to become the “largest distributor” of the drug.

Kerry-Anne Donaldson is confined to a wheelchair because of her nitrous oxide addiction, although she is now clean and campaigns to raise awareness of the dangers.

The 26-year-old, from east London said: “The ban has just made people a bit more discreet and hide their use more.

“I haven’t heard of anyone being arrested and I think nitrous oxide being illegal has made it even more popular.

“I have messages all the time from people saying their relative is inhaling and they don’t know how to help them.

I have messages all the time from people saying their relative is inhaling and they don’t know how to help them

Kerry-Anne Donaldson

“It’s very addictive. When you start you get a 10-second buzz and the more you do, the harder it is to feel that way – you keep chasing the same high.

“I started when I was 18 years old because I didn’t know the harm of it. I thought it was a little buzz and a bit of fun.

“Then, one morning, I woke up to find I couldn’t use my arms and I couldn’t walk.

“My older sister took me to hospital and they told me I had a B12 deficiency, a nitrous oxide overdose and nerve damage.”

PERMANENT NERVE DAMAGE

Kerry-Anne relearned how to walk after taking B12 injections.

But she later relapsed and at her peak – in her early 20s – she was doing 600 of the old so-called whippet canisters a week.

She added: “The doctor says I now have permanent nerve damage and a disc bulge in…