Pubdate: Thu, 14 Apr 2005
Source: Manawatu Evening Standard (New Zealand)
Copyright: 2005 Manawatu Evening Standard
Contact:  http://www.manawatueveningstandard.co.nz/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1057
Author: Anna Wallis

CREAM USED AS REASON FOR GAS SALES

A party pill retailer believes she can still sell nitrous oxide legally 
provided it's not to people who inhale the gas.

Cheryl, who declined to give her surname, runs Go Legal in Palmerston 
North, which sells canisters of the gas, charging $12.50 for a carton of 10.

She said following the publicity over the gas, she rang the Ministry of 
Health in Wellington for information. Based on this call, she has put a 
sign up in her store advising the gas is only intended for whipping cream, 
and not inhaling.

Buyers have to be over 18 and are told any use other than culinary 
contravenes the Misuse of Drugs Act.

Yesterday the associate health minister Jim Anderton was successful in 
using the Medicines Act (not the Misuse of Drugs Act) to have the gas 
banned from sale if it was to be used for inhaling.

In the next couple of days, police and the Ministry of Health will meet to 
decide how to enforce the ban, and it's likely the situation for retailers 
like Cheryl will become clear.

The ministry's chief adviser for public health, Ashley Bloomfield, said the 
meeting will look at "suitable ways of educating retailers about the new 
interpretation and an appropriate timeframe for moving to more active 
enforcement."

The Manawatu Standard was unable to find out from the ministry if the 
Palmerston North retailer would be stopped from selling the gas.

Cheryl said she has been selling nitrous oxide for the 17 weeks the store 
has been open.

She wouldn't say how many canisters she sold a week except "it is quite a few".

"Now we tell people buying it it is only for whipping cream, and check they 
are over 18," she said.

Asked how she would know people were buying it for whipping cream, Cheryl 
said it wasn't fair to judge people by how they looked.

Nitrous oxide is used for medical purposes, and most commonly as pain 
relief by dentists. It is also used as fuel for drag racing cars and as a 
propellant in manufactured foods such as whipped cream.

Inhaling the gas produces euphoria and can cause hallucinations and 
disorientation.

Overuse can lead to health problems including a vitamin B12 deficiency, 
temporary loss of motor neurone control and possible degeneration of the 
spinal cord.

According to an Auckland University study in 2003, one in eight first year 
university students from a survey of 1782 had tried the gas.

The study by the neurology department found 12 percent, or 158 students, 
used the gas recreationally and 3 percent, or 39 students, used it at least 
monthly.
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MAP posted-by: Beth