Essex mum's warning after losing son to laughing gas
Emma Cain lost her son Jon in 2011, when he was just 17.
Last updated 4th Oct 2022
A mum from Southend has described how she warns other teens of the dangers of laughing gas - and has told us she wants tougher punishments for those who use psychoactive substances
Emma Cain lost her son Jon in 2011, when he was just 17.
He died from cardiac arrest after inhaling butane, a gas usually used in cigarette lighter refills.
The 45-year-old said when she now sees young people using the drugs, she feels she has to go over and talk to them.
Once, she even grabbed her sons ashes to show young people and warn them of its dangers.
"I picked up John's ashes and I took them downstairs."
Emma told us she would do anything to try stop others face what her family have gone through:
"My daughter saw out the window about four or five teenagers with balloons outside the window and and. And that was it. I picked up John's ashes and I took them downstairs.
"I say to them, how how would their mum, their dad, their brothers, their sisters, how would they feel if they lost you?"
Nitrous oxide is another gas inhaled, commonly known as 'laughing gas'.
These gases starve the brain of oxygen, creating a light headed feeling. This can cause suffocation.
It is not illegal to take nitrous oxide. But it is illegal to sell or supply it, under the 2016 Psychoactive Substances Act.
Emma wants to see even stricter regulations on its use:
"I think it needs to be put under the Misuse of Drugs Act, so punishment can be given for people that are misusing it. At the very least a Class B."
Essex Police told us: "Under the Psychoactive Substances Act 2016 we will arrest anyone supplying nitrous oxide and seize and destroy any associated cannisters."
This act makes it an offence to supply with intent to consume for psychoactive effects, or know, or be reckless as to whether, the psychoactive substance is likely to be consumed by another person for its psychoactive effects.
In 2021, the Home Secretary asked the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) to review the harms caused by nitrous oxide after a concerning rise in use among young people.