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    Nitrous Oxide Stats & Data

    Nos N2o N20 Nangs Nitro laughing_gas nitrous
    NPS DataHub
    MW44.01
    FormulaN2O
    CAS10024-97-2
    IUPACNitrous oxide
    SMILESO=N#N
    InChIKeyGQPLMRYTRLFLPF-UHFFFAOYSA-N
    Psychoactive Class Dissociative

    Pharmacology

    DrugBank
    State Solid

    Description

    Nitrous oxide, commonly known as "laughing gas", is a chemical compound with the chemical formula N2O. At room temperature, it is a colorless non-flammable gas, with a pleasant, slightly sweet odor and taste. It is used in surgery and dentistry for its anesthetic and analgesic effects. It is known as "laughing gas" due to the euphoric effects of inhaling it, a property that has led to its recreational use as an inhalant drug.

    Mechanism of Action

    Findings to date indicate that nitrous oxide induces opioid peptide release in the brain stem leading to the activation of descending noradrenergic neurones, which results in modulation of the nociceptive process in the spinal cord. Several receptor–effector mechanisms including dopamine receptors, α2 adrenoceptors, benzodiazepine receptors and -methyl- -aspartate (NMDA) receptors have been implicated although the relationship of one with the other is not known.

    Subjective Effects

    Physical
    • Spontaneous tactile sensations: The nitrous oxide body high starts off as the sensation of a mixture of cold, warm, sharp and soft tingles which begin across the head and face at lower dosages but spread out across the body at higher dosages.
    • Tactile suppression: This partially to entirely suppresses one's sense of touch, creating feelings of numbness within the extremities. It is responsible for the anaesthetic properties of this substance.
    • Motor control loss: A loss of gross and fine motor control alongside of balance and coordination is prevalent within nitrous and becomes especially strong at higher dosages.
    • Physical euphoria: This results in feelings of physical euphoria which range between mild pleasure to powerfully all-encompassing bliss.
    • Changes in felt bodily form: This usually occurs with higher dosages and can be described as feelings that in a non-painful fashion your body's physical form is being stretched into infinity, compressed into a singularity or split into two separate halves.
    • Decreased bodily weight: This creates the sensation that the body is floating and has become entirely weightless. It is often accompanied by feelings of slowly falling or drifting.
    • Dizziness: Although uncommon, some people report dizziness under the influence of nitrous.
    • Headaches: Although uncommon, a certain subset of people report headaches during the offset of nitrous oxide.
    Cognitive
    • Laughter: This effect is extremely powerful and pronounced within nitrous oxide and can be described as sudden bouts of intense laughter and giggling. It is especially prevalent in appropriate social settings.
    • Euphoria: Feelings of mild to intense happiness and general positivity.
    • Ego suppression, loss and death: At higher dosages, level 3 ego death is an all encompassing effect within nitrous oxide. It is unique in style due to its rapid onset and fast comedown, creating the experience that one's sense of self is rapidly disintegrated and then suddenly restacked through regaining one's own long term memory.
    • Déjà vu: Although uncommon, a certain subset of people report strong feelings of déjà vu consistently when under the influence of nitrous oxide.
    • Amnesia: At high dosages, it is often common for one to experience amnesia and memory loss after the experience has occurred. This is especially prevalent alongside of ego death.
    • Unity and interconnectedness: During high dosage states of ego death, this component is a common but inconsistent accompanying effect.
    Sensory

    In comparison to other dissociatives such as Ketamine or DXM, the visual effects of nitrous oxide are comparatively simplistic.

    Visual · Suppressions
    • Visual acuity suppression: Blurred vision to the point of all encompassing blindness is a completely consistent effect within nitrous oxide even at moderate dosages.
    • Double vision: This component is prevalent at moderate dosages and makes reading impossible unless one closes an eye.
    • Pattern recognition suppression: This effect generally occurs at higher dosages and makes one unable to recognize and interpret perceivable visual data.
    Visual · Hallucinatory States

    In comparison to other more classical dissociatives, hallucinations are particularly rare with nitrous but possible at high dosages.

    • External hallucinations: These are delirious in believability and commonly only include mundane scenarios such as perceiving and talking to people who are not currently present.
    • Internal hallucinations
    Auditory
    • Distortions: These distortions are very powerful and loud enough in their volume to make the original sound completely unrecognizable. They include phasers, white noise, high pitch tones and notes, flanging, changes in pitch, echo effects, and stuttering.
    • Suppression: This effect can be described as a muffling and quieting of externally sourced sound which results in it sounding more indistinct and distant than it would usually be.

    Forked from Subjective Effect Documentation by Josie Kins, February 2014. Via dose.wiki (CC0).

    Toxicity

    PsychonautWiki

    The exact toxic dosage is unknown. Potential problems include:

    Addiction & dependence

    As with other dissociatives, the chronic use of nitrous oxide can be considered mildly addictive with a moderate potential for abuse. Tolerance to many of the effects of nitrous oxide develops with prolonged and repeated use. This results in users having to administer increasingly large doses to achieve the same effects.

    Effect Profile

    Curated + 535 Reports
    Dissociative 5.0

    Strong dissociative depth, motor impairment, and mania with low insight

    Dissociative Depth×3
    104.22.7
    Mania / Compulsion×1
    92.60.6
    Insight / Novel Thought×2
    20.62.9
    Motor / Sensory Impairment×1
    103.31.9
    Catalog Erowid BlueLight

    Community Effects

    TripSit
    Positive
    euphoria dissociation analgesia

    Tolerance & Pharmacokinetics

    drugs.wiki

    Tolerance Decay

    Full tolerance 1h Half tolerance 7d Baseline ~14d

    Experience Report Analysis

    Erowid BlueLight
    504 Reports
    1992–2025 Date Range
    169 With Age Data
    33 Effects Detected

    Demographics

    Gender Distribution

    Age Distribution

    Reports Over Time

    Effect Analysis

    Erowid + Bluelight

    Effects aggregated from 535 experience reports (504 Erowid + 31 Bluelight)

    535 Reports
    117 Effects Detected
    54 Positive
    29 Adverse
    34 Neutral

    Effect Sentiment Distribution

    Confidence Distribution

    Positive Effects 54

    Euphoria 38.5% 90%
    Music Enhancement 37.0% 90%
    Color Enhancement 32.5% 86%
    Awe 32.3% 84%
    Joy 32.3% 86%
    Empathy 29.6% 70%
    Stimulation 24.6% 70%
    Tactile Enhancement 22.8% 70%
    Focus Enhancement 21.6% 70%
    Tingling 19.4% 90%
    Introspection 18.3% 75%
    Body High 16.1% 87%
    Insight 16.1% 86%
    Lightness 16.1% 84%
    Mystical Quality 12.9% 89%
    Revelatory Insight 12.9% 86%
    Thought Acceleration 12.9% 83%
    Patterning 9.7% 90%
    Identity Alteration 9.7% 85%
    Auditory-Visual Synesthesia 9.7% 83%

    Adverse Effects 29

    Anxiety 38.5% 83%
    Confusion 29.8% 82%
    Depersonalization 29.0% 82%
    Fear 16.1% 87%
    Nausea 14.4% 84%
    Memory Suppression 12.3% 80%
    Delusion 9.7% 83%
    Paranoia 9.7% 88%
    Amnesia 9.7% 80%
    Motor Impairment 8.0% 82%
    Ego Inflation 6.5% 88%
    Panic 6.5% 85%
    Muscle Tension 6.0% 70%
    Headache 5.6% 80%
    Thought Loops 4.5% 85%
    Pupil Dilation 4.4% 70%
    Sweating 4.2% 70%
    Psychosis 4.0% 70%
    Jaw Clenching 3.4% 70%
    Increased Heart Rate 3.4% 70%

    Subjective Effect Ontology

    Experience Reports

    Structured effect tags extracted from 535 Erowid & Bluelight experience reports using a controlled vocabulary of 220+ canonical effects across 15 domains.

    Auditory

    music enhancement 198 37.0% auditory distortions 173 34.3%

    Cognitive

    confusion 159 29.8% focus enhancement 109 21.6%

    Emotional

    anxiety 206 38.5% euphoria 206 38.5% empathy 149 29.6%

    Motor

    stimulation 124 24.6%

    Selfhood

    dissociation 131 24.5%

    Tactile

    tactile enhancement 115 22.8%

    Visual

    visual distortions 254 47.5% color enhancement 174 32.5%

    12 unique effects extracted · Derived from Erowid & Bluelight reports

    Real-World Dose Distribution

    62K Doses

    From 354 individual dose entries

    Common Combinations

    Most co-occurring substances in experience reports

    Form / Preparation

    Most common forms and preparations reported

    Redose Patterns

    Redosing behavior across 446 reports

    8.7% Redosed
    1.1 Avg Doses
    105m Median Interval
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