Val de Marne. Young man died after inhaling laughing gas: investigation opened

An investigation has been opened to determine the causes of the death on Saturday of a young man in Vitry-sur-Seine (Val-de-Marne), who allegedly inhaled nitrous oxide (or laughing gas) shortly before his death, a we learned from judicial and police sources, confirming information from the Parisian.

The investigations were entrusted to the Vitry-sur-Seine police station. An autopsy and toxicological examinations are underway, said the Créteil prosecutor’s office.

The analyzes must determine the causes of death

If the investigators are awaiting the results of these examinations to establish a possible link between the inhalation of “laughing gas” and the death, cartridges of nitrous oxide were found in the vehicle of the deceased, declared a police sources. A witness to the facts also told the police that the young man had consumed it shortly before his death.

The firefighters intervened Saturday morning around 7 a.m. to rescue this young man in his twenties, who was in cardio-respiratory arrest. He could not be revived.

A gas used in siphons in the kitchen

Easily available on the internet, nitrous oxide is used in siphons in the kitchen, as an analgesic in medicine, and more and more often for recreational purposes.

Diverted from its initial use for its euphoric properties, it is transferred into balloons to be inhaled, explains the website Drugs info service. When expelled from its container, nitrous oxide becomes a very cold, colorless gas with a sweetish smell.

Burns, loss of consciousness, asphyxiation but also neurological, even cardiac or psychiatric problems: the cases of serious disorders linked to the consumption of “proto” have exploded in recent years.

“The combined consumption of alcohol and drugs during an inhalation episode increases the occurrence of these risks”, according to the Santé.fr website, a public health information service.

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