The Government has asked the Ministry of Public Security to study and add recreational nitrous oxide balloons, also known as funky balls, to the list of drugs and precursor substances for strict management and supervision.
Funky balls are sold at bars and pubs on HCM City's Bui Vien Street. (Photo vietnamdaily.net.vn)
Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - TheGovernment has asked the Ministry of Public Security to study and addrecreational nitrous oxide balloons, also known as funky balls, to the list ofdrugs and precursor substances for strict management and supervision.
Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam,who is also Chairman of the National Committee for AIDS, Drug and ProstitutionPrevention of Vietnam, said the control over the use of nitrous oxide(N2O) or laughing gas must be tightened in big cities in Hanoi and Ho Chi MinhCity.
Dam asked the ministry to studythe definition of precursor substances in the amended Law on Drug Preventionand Control.
It would be a legal basis tolist laughing gas and similar substances as narcotic substances, he said.
The task must be completed andreported to the Prime Minister before December 31.
He required the Ministry ofHealth to tighten the use of N2O, assess the impact of using the gas on humanhealth and provide information to the media for dissemination.
The Ministry of Industry andTrade would coordinate with the concerned ministries and branches instrengthening the management of import, production, sale and use of N2O gas.
Sanctions would be stipulatedfor the violations, he said.
Nitrous oxide is a chemicalcompound for pain relief within healthcare, mostly during childbirth and indentistry.
In Vietnam, the gas pumped intoballoons can easily be bought at bars and pubs or social network at the cost ofbetween 50,000-150,000 VND (2.08-6.25 USD) each, depending on their size.
A person who inhales the gasusually bursts into laughter. The regular use of the gas creates immediatedizziness and blocks the nervous system, reducing the ability to think,distorting the perception of sound and even causing brief visual hallucinations.
N2O is not listed as drug orprecursor substance under Government Decree 73/2018/ND-CP, dated May 2018.
Previously, Hanoi’s Departmentof Health and the city police sent a petition to the city authority to tightenthe use of N2O for recreational purposes after the rampant sale and use offunky balls were reported in the city.
Health experts raised theirwarnings of the addictive properties of the gas and negative impacts onpeople’s health.
The city authority laterproposed the Ministry of Health to restrict the sale of the substance forrecreational purposes, which gained approval last May./.
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Funky balls are sold at bars and pubs on HCM City's Bui Vien Street. (Photo vietnamdaily.net.vn) 
