Pubdate: Mon, 01 Jan 2001
Source: Inquirer (PA)
Copyright: 2001 Philadelphia Newspapers Inc
Contact:  400 N. Broad Street, Philadelphia, PA 19101
Website: http://inq.philly.com/content/inquirer/home/
Forum: http://interactive.phillynews.com/talk-show/
Author: Angela Valdez, Inquirer Suburban Staff

NITROUS OXIDE DRAWS MORE YOUNG USERS

Janice Hughes spoke with her granddaughter for the last time on
Halloween morning. She called from work to tell 16-year-old Heather
Morrow where to find the candy, expecting her to empty the bag she had
hidden before trick-or-treaters arrived.

When Hughes stepped through the door of her Bordentown home that
evening, the Snickers bag sat, untouched, on the kitchen table.

Hours earlier, Morrow inhaled nitrous oxide from a plastic garbage bag
placed over her head. The giddy high might have lasted a few minutes
before she passed out. She most likely asphyxiated within five minutes.

Although not as widespread as the use of marijuana and some other
drugs, use of nitrous oxide is growing fast - up 50 percent among
people ages 18 to 25 since 1994. Accidental deaths are also rising.

The compound itself - a sweet-tasting substance often known as
laughing gas - is relatively harmless. It is used in dentistry, has
myriad commercial applications and has been used for decades to put
the squirt in cans of whipped cream.

Despite recent attempts to control it by a few states - including New
Jersey and, with a brand-new law in place, Pennsylvania - the gas is
largely legal and easy to find. Experts say the tactics used to curb
abuse of other drugs do not always work with nitrous oxide.

In this region, it is perhaps best known as a staple in the parking
lot at Philadelphia Eagles home games, where officials confiscated
dozens of tanks early in the season.

In early October, a 23-year-old man from Audubon, Camden County, died,
like Morrow, after breathing the gas from a bag over his head.

Heather Morrow had a sweet tooth, liked the rapper Eminem, and colored
her world with purple paint, purple nail polish, and purple plastic
containers for makeup and memorabilia.

She had tried marijuana but told her grandmother she hated
drugs.

"Heather's always been disgusted by drugs," said Erin Morrissey, 16,
her best friend. When kids passed around beers or joints at parties,
the look on Morrow's face made it clear she disapproved. "It hurt her,
what people did to themselves," Morrissey said.

"To have this happen to someone like her . . ."

Morrow had a voracious appetite for books and a shy intelligence, said
Debra Trofe, a counselor at Northern Burlington County Regional High
School.

She also struggled with depression and didn't treat her life as
precious, Trofe said. "All she knew was that she was unhappy, and she
expected it couldn't change."

On Halloween Day, Morrow got permission from her grandmother to stay
home and nurse a cold. But instead of lying in bed, she joined her
brother, Edward Morrow, 21, and his friend in Edward's garage
apartment behind the house. The three began filling blue balloons with
nitrous oxide from a tank Edward had purchased the day before - police
have yet to determine where.

After a while, police believe, they began inflating giant garbage bags
and inhaling the gas with their heads completely enveloped in plastic.
Then Edward and his friend went back to the house.

About an hour later, Hughes got a call from her grandson. "She's not
breathing," he screamed. "I don't know how long."

Heather Morrow was declared dead at Robert Wood Johnson Hospital in
Hamilton Township. Her brother was arrested and charged with
possession of marijuana and nitrous oxide. If convicted, he faces
several years in jail, mainly for marijuana.

Edward Morrow declined to talk about what happened. Hughes admits she
trusted Heather because she loved her. "If my granddaughter did that,"
she said, "there's a lot of other kids out there doing it. And they're
like her. I don't think she knew what she was doing, and she certainly
did not expect the tragic results that came."

At 21, Edward Morrow is in the biggest demographic group for
nitrous-oxide abuse. Between 1994 and 1998, the use of nitrous oxide
among people ages 18 to 25 climbed from 5 to 7.9 percent, according to
the National Household Survey on Drug Abuse.

No accurate count exists of deaths associated with nitrous-oxide
abuse. In the last three years, the National Inhalant Prevention
Coalition has recorded 21 throughout the United States - most likely
an understated figure, experts say.

Recreational use of the gas dates back to the mid-1800s. The compound
was first created in the laboratory in 1772 by Joseph Priestly, an
English scientist.

Rising abuse first became an issue in the United States during the
late 1970s. After declining in the 1980s, it began to spike again in
the mid-1990s.

 From scant statistics, drug-abuse experts have culled a rough picture
of the trend. It's a party drug. People assume it's safe.

Usually, the gas is inhaled from large balloons, filled from tall
tanks or tiny canisters called whippets, which are used as propellants
in whipped cream containers. Vendors sell the balloons for between $2
and $5 at parties, concerts and sports arenas.

Whippets can be bought for $6 to $10 per 10-count box at
kitchen-supply stores; head shops sell conversion devices that release
the gas into balloons. Big tanks are sold at kitchen-, medical- and
auto-supply stores for $100 to $200.

Restrictions and enforcement vary from state to state, but experts say
that if people are determined to buy the gas, they can. Some is
stolen. Nazareth Hospital in Northeast Philadelphia reported four
tanks taken Dec. 16.

Drug-abuse experts think nitrous oxide has also become a popular
money-maker. A 64-pound tank of the compressed gas would fill 537.6
cubic feet, or about 4,021 gallons. At $5 per two-gallon balloon, one
tank could gross more than $10,000.

The high from one balloon can last for as little as a minute. Nitrous
is deceptive, experts say, because inhaling one or two balloons can be
perfectly harmless.

As the high fades, they say, riskier methods become
attractive.

"You may end up overindulging," said Charles Sharp, associate director
of special programs at the National Institute on Drug Abuse, part of
the National Institutes of Health. "You start doing things that are
more dangerous. You bring about your death by trying to get more."

People suffocate inside plastic bags, crash their cars by huffing out
of balloons while driving, or fall when they pass out.

Upon hearing about the occasional fatality, Sharp said, people reason,
" 'Oh, that guy was stupid.' " He added, "When you're under the
influence of the drug, you might be like that guy."

Nitrous works by interfering with the nervous system, altering the way
the brain sends messages through the body. Dentists have long used the
gas to reduce anxiety in a 50-50 or 60-40 mixture with oxygen.

As an anesthetic and mild analgesic, it dulls pain and diminishes
memory. For reasons that scientists cannot yet explain, those
functions combine to create a giddy, disoriented feeling. Breathing
pure nitrous oxide for more than a minute or so can cause a person to
pass out from lack of oxygen.

A small number of states have attempted to combat the problem by
criminalizing recreational use. In New Jersey, possession of nitrous
oxide without a permit carries up to $1,000 fine and up to six months
in prison.

Gov. Ridge just two weeks ago signed a bill making the unlicensed sale
or possession of the gas a misdemeanor in Pennsylvania, with a penalty
of up to one year in prison and a $2,500 fine.

Still, inhalant-abuse researchers favor education over legislation -
because, they say, legitimate uses make the gas difficult to control.

"I would be honest with kids rather than try to scare them," said H.
Westley Clark, director of the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment in
the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Clark and Sharp want to warn users about the most dangerous
techniques, such as inhaling the gas from plastic bags.

It's an uphill battle.

At Cafe 52 near Rutgers University in New Brunswick, Jonny Pillo
sipped coffee and talked about nitrous. "You just do it," Pillo, 29,
said. "I've seen people just pass out, crack their heads. Part of
doing anything to change your frame of thought is to do it in excess."

Ashley Burrows, 18, sat cross-legged in the "pit," a sunken study
lounge at Rowan University in Glassboro. The freshman wore a yellow
Billabong brand sweatshirt with the word BONG in large letters.

Coming across a tank of nitrous oxide is never a surprise, the
freshman said.

"I mostly see it around at parties," she said. "It's definitely out
there."
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