When doing his regular litter-pick of Canal Park on Sunday morning (2 August), Dave King found rather more than he expected — over 700 little silver canisters.
The canisters contained ‘laughing gas’ (nitrous oxide). People buy the canisters and then transfer the contents into a larger container (usually a balloon), from which they then inhale.
Laughing gas can produce a short-lived feeling of mild euphoria and fits of the giggles (hence the name). However, it can also result headaches and nausea. And if you inhale too much at one time, it can cause unconsciousness or even death through suffocation .
The canisters are sold for catering purposes — eg, to charge whipped-cream machines — but it’s illegal to supply them (ie, to sell or even just give them away) for human consumption.
After tweeting about his find, Dave was contacted by news outlets and ended up on both BBC and ITV television news, and was featured in two online articles.
BBC News —
ITV News —
ITV News article — More than 700 cannisters of laughing gas found at one Cardiff Park (And yes, they do spell canister with two ‘n’s.)
Wales Online article — Hundreds of ‘laughing gas’ canisters found in just one Cardiff park