A University of Wollongong study into the the harms caused by recreational use of nitrous oxide has produced an Australian-first initiative to educate young people on its effects.
Nitrous oxide, otherwise known as ‘nangs’, is a colourless gas commonly used for sedation and pain relief, but is also becoming a sought-after drug among young people chasing a high.
As part of the study, a research team, including University of Wollongong academics, worked with focus groups of young people to uncover the hidden dangers of the drug and explore its use and availability.
Associate Professor Jacqui Cameron said the research into the party drug was important and helped the team develop material to educate young people about the health risks of using nitrous oxide.
“The results of the study [a research project with experiential young people speaking on the harms of nitrous oxide use] were published, and then we took some time to develop resources that we wanted to post around harm reduction for nitrous oxide use,” Prof. Cameron said.
“Nitrous oxide isn’t recorded in all of the big drug and alcohol surveys, so we don’t know very much about the actual prevalence or how much it’s used.
“So we developed these resources to post on social media for young people to develop short, snappy two-second videos and information about risks to then post to TikTok, Instagram, et cetera.”
The researchers then worked with another focus group of young people to assess the usefulness and relevance of awareness and advice materials.
A video posted last week to social media about nitrous oxide use while driving reached 8,000 views, as well as their page being viewed 27,000 times.
Prof. Cameron said the feedback the research team’s socials had received had been very positive and appreciated by young people who were unaware of the risks associated with using ‘nangs’.
Regardless of these media successes, Prof. Cameron said the team hoped there would be more research in the field, public awareness would grow, and risk and harm would reduce.
“[Nitrous oxide] is not currently counted in the national drug strategy household survey as a separate drug,” Prof. Cameron said.
“We know that the social media side is quite prolific, but we don’t know how that’s been used in a population size,
“We’re not necessarily saying that making it illegal is the best option, we’d rather take a health and harm reduction approach and education approach.
“It’s about getting better research and evidence about what we need to do, doing things that we have done on a larger scale and figuring out what could be helpful in the future.”
