A Reddit user was recently annoyed by drug paraphernalia littering local wilderness and shared a picture of it to r/Perth.
"Stop littering kids, just chuck it in bins, no one cares," the original poster said. They spotted the waste just east of Perth, Australia, along a path between Carmel and Lesmurdie.
Amid the trash was a large number of nitrous oxide canisters, nicknamed "nangs" in Australia and "whippets" elsewhere. Nitrous oxide is best known as laughing gas. It is used as an anesthetic in dentistry and in the kitchen for pressurized food, such as whipped cream. It sees wide use as an accessible recreational drug sold in the canisters shown in the posted picture.
Many Reddit commenters were quick to point out the larger canisters. This has been a relatively recent change in nitrous oxide purchasing options. The higher volume poses a danger, as users are more susceptible to overdoses.
Nitrous oxide does damage to the atmosphere as well, but primarily at agricultural scale rather than consumer use. Litter, on the other hand, poses a real threat to local wildlife, demanding grassroots community action to combat it.
While there are health dangers associated with nitrous oxide use, Reddit commenters were generally more concerned about the environmental cost than the human one. One went so far as to suggest the larger canisters left a smaller environmental footprint compared to multiple small ones.
"Chancing across a plastic shopping bag full of empty nangs on the roadside is both a cultural pastime and a rite of passage," one commenter joked. "This is just nuts. I agree though, but when your brain is Swiss cheese from nitrogen inhalants, the recycle bin is like... Over there."
"I used to do all the drugs. We always cleaned up our s***. There's no excuse for this s***," one commenter said.
"F*** up your own life just be sure to protect our environment please and thank you," another said.
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