The CDC determined that vaping was common among teenagers within the last few years, with marketing campaigns that specifically targeted them and flavors meant to appeal to younger taste palettes.
Due to rising back to school stress, vaping became a prominent coping mechanism for teens.
However, in the last four weeks a new drug has made American news headlines, known as Galaxy Gas, or as older people know it, Whippets.
Typically drugs can only be purchased in dedicated stores, which for the most part Teens could not easily access, however, Galaxy Gas isn’t actually available in these establishments.
In fact, Galaxy Gas is more akin to whipped cream than a drug. In the past, people would huff the fumes from whipped cream cans in order to elicit a kind of high, back then, this was known as “Whippets.”
This high is caused by the bodies’ response to the nitrous oxides contained within Galaxy Gas and whipped cream. The sense of euphoria and lightheadedness caused by inhaling Galaxy Gas or whipped cream is a direct result of nitrous oxide cutting off air supply to the brain for a brief moment.
According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, cutting a brain off from oxygen has incredible risks and negative side effects, such as, dizziness, fainting, loss of consciousness, impaired memory, impaired coordination, numbness, irreversible nerve damage, and potentially even death.
With the school year only recently starting for most states, the use of these drugs in teens has also increased.
“People who experience anxiety, stress, depression, or pain may use drugs to try to feel better,” The National Institute on Drug Abuse stated. “Especially if mental health care is not accessible.”
An interview with an anonymous student at Salisbury High School further supports this idea.
“The stress of the world around us is usually what makes us do that, it’s a way to escape,” he said.
Drug use has been a consistent problem in the United States, and it will most likely continue to be one for the foreseeable future as new drugs are invented and stress increases.
