A Florida woman died after developing a crippling, $400-per-day addiction to nitrous oxide that once left her temporarily paralyzed.
Meg Caldwell, 29, of Clermont in the Orlando area, was found dead outside a smoke shop in late 2024 years after becoming hooked on whippets, a slang term for canisters that contain nitrous oxide.
She began doing whippets recreationally in college before it spiraled into a full–fledged addiction, her sister said.
‘She would spend $300, $400 at a smoke shop in a day,’ Leigh Caldwell told Boston 25.
On one occasion, after overdosing on the drug, Meg temporarily lost use of her legs.
‘A doctor in the hospital said, “This is going to kill you. You’re going to die,”‘ Leigh said.
Even after the terrifying experience, she continued to use nitrous oxide.
‘Her whole life had become derailed due to her addiction to this drug,’ Leigh added.
Meg would buy nitrous oxide from local smoke shops, inhale it in the parking lot and then head back inside for more.
‘She didn’t think that it would hurt her because she was buying it in the smoke shop, so she thought she was using this substance legally,’ another sister, Kathleen Dial, told the BBC.
The youngest of four sisters, she was ‘the light of our lives,’ Dial added.
Nitrous oxide – also known as laughing gas – is sold legally in the US, though some states regulate the product’s sale.
Meg’s family has filed a class action lawsuit against the manufacturers of nitrous oxide and seven Florida smoke shops to stop retail sales of the drug.
‘This is not a wrongful death case. The Caldwells made a decision that their focus would be for the public good,’ said John Allen Yanchunis, an attorney who represents the Caldwells.
Meg isn’t the only one who has suffered from the dangerous addiction.
From 2019 to 2023, the number of deaths attributed to nitrous oxide poisoning rose by more than 100 percent, according to the CDC.
Dr. Gaylord Lopez, executive director of the Georgia Poison Centertold Boston 25 that ‘a lot of these patients are adults who are being seen in the emergency room after having experienced blackouts, unconsciousness.’
She described how chronic use of nitrous oxide robs the brain and heart of oxygen. This can lead to blood conditions, blood clots and temporary paralysis.
Nitrous oxide can cause death through a lack of oxygen, or by the substance’s effect on the cardiovascular system – as it can lead to dangerous changes in heart rate and blood pressure.
Drug addiction counselor Kim Castro told Boston 25 that she’s had four clients who have died from nitrous oxide poisoning.
‘You really don’t know when you’ll stop breathing, when you’ll lose consciousness, when your body will stop functioning. It’s pretty scary,’ she said.
Galaxy Gas, a company that produces flavored whipped-cream chargers and dispensers containing nitrous oxide, is named in the lawsuit.
Its dispensers became famous after going viral last year, as people filmed themselves using the products. TikTok has since blocked ‘Galaxy Gas’ as a search result.
In March, the FDA released a statement advising consumers not to inhale nitrous oxide products, including Galaxy Gas and many other brands.
Lawyers for the brand said it was sold to a Chinese company last year.