Inhaling the gas from the lighter: the death of young Natalia reveals an increasingly widespread practice

Natalia, 16 years old, lost her life on Friday in Corral de Almaguer (Toledo) after inhaling the gas from a lighter recharger. It happened in the Municipal Park of the town, where young people usually meet on weekends. There her friends and colleagues now remember her before an altar of candles and photos: “You will always be in our hearts,” reads one of the messages. “Nati, may the memory of your laughter fill the void you leave us,” adds another, signed by her teachers. Natalia, a fourth year ESO student, was with her friends late in the afternoon. They were refilling the recharger for several lighters. “Then I saw her inhaling one of them through her mouth,” says a witness-. Then he got up, started walking. He was short of breath. Then he fell and hit the ground”, When the emergency services arrived they could only certify his death. He was in cardiorespiratory arrest. The Civil Guard investigates the causes of death: if it was due to the blow or as a consequence of inhaling the gas. That gas that Natalia inhaled is known as blue gas or isobutane. It is the one used to recharge lighters. The refill cans usually cost about five euros When you inhale it, It generates small hallucinations but if consumed in large quantities it can cause hypoxia, a rapid drop in oxygen in the brain. “First it gives you a high, then you feel short of breath and then you get dizzy,” says one of the young people. “It is a common practice among local kids because it is cheap,” explains another. The objective is to seek quick, temporary and cheap emotions. It is something that has spread among young people in recent years: the inhalation of gases from common objects to be placed quickly. A couple of weeks ago the local police of Villarreal (Castellón) alerted on social networks about the use of chlorethyl, commonly used as an aerosol to mitigate muscle pain. Apparently it was being used as a drug during the festivities of the municipality.A separate case deserves nitrous oxide, popularly known as laughing gas.It is a gas that is used for sedation and pain control, and its effects are the appearance of euphoria, numbness of the body, sensation of sedation, dizziness , uncontrolled laughter, motor incoordination, blurred vision, confusion and tiredness.These symptoms are directly associated with the inhalation of the gas, so they disappear immediately. anera immediately in about 3-5 minutes after stopping it. The United States and the United Kingdom are the countries where cases have increased the most. In fact, the former has prohibited the sale of cans of whipped cream to those under 21 years of age.