RESIDENTS in a county town are complaining about tiny gas canisters being abandoned on the site of the road, which can be inhaled as part of recreational drug use.
The image above shows discarded canisters on the A38 in Upton-upon-Severn.
The small containers are legal to buy, and are used as a way to inflate objects such as balloons.
However, in the wrong hands, a ‘high’ can be achieved, sometimes aided by filling a balloon with the dangerous gas to ease administration.
On the community Facebook page Upton Parish Notice Board, members took to airing their frustrations and one member had spotted balloons in the pile.
Von Drinkwater said: “Disgusting - what are people like.”
Karl OJ Godsell said: “What’s the generation coming too.”
Charley E Charley said: “Nitrous oxide can be fatal. I know a friend’s son who died on this it is no joke.”
Janet Wiggins said: “That is a lot - very worrying.”
Luci Woodward said: “Looks like whipped cream canisters - people use them to get high.”
Cllr Shirley Dobbin, the deputy mayor of Upton-upon-Severn, said: " These canisters are dangerous, and I urge anyone who finds them not to touch the canisters and report to the council so we can clear them away as quickly as possible."
READ MORE: Laughing gas can kill you: Warning after hundreds of canisters found in Worcester
READ MORE: £25k funding for police pedal power in Worcestershire
A spokesman for the drug support charity Talk to Frank, said: "It is very dangerous to inhale nitrous oxide directly from the canister, and doing it in an enclosed space is also very dangerous."
Death is a consequence in some cases from inhaling the gas, which is also used in a clinical setting for pain relief.
We reported at the start of lockdown of these canisters being found around Worcester and cllr Lynn Denham, vice chair of the city council’s communities committee, and a trained pharmacist, said at the time: "You risk falling unconscious or suffocating from the lack of oxygen."
Although legal to buy, supplying this drug for recreational use is illegal.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here