Woman’s family files lawsuit seeking to halt sales of Galaxy Gas after her death
Nitrous oxide sold in colorful tanks with candy-like flavors that consumers are inhaling to get high is creating a “veritable national health crisis,” a lawsuit says.
Nitrous oxide sold in colorful tanks with candy-like flavors that consumers are inhaling to get high must be removed from shelves because it is creating a “veritable national health crisis,” a new lawsuit alleges.
Filed Thursday in state court in Orange County, Florida, by the family of a woman who died after what relatives said was a yearslong addiction to the gas canisters, the lawsuit accuses manufacturers and smoke shops of exploiting a legal loophole that allows them to sell nitrous oxide canisters if they are marketed as a culinary tool rather than an inhalant. The gas is most commonly used to make whipped cream.
Nonetheless, the products are sold in large packages labeled and decorated “so as to encourage their use through inhalation, and distributed through smoke shops, to further facilitate their use as recreational drugs, rather than cooking utensils,” reads the lawsuit. “This presents a mortal danger to consumers’ health.”
“These products have caused widespread addiction, death and severe bodily harm,” the lawsuit adds.
Margaret Caldwell, who went by Meg.Courtesy Caldwell family and Morgan & MorganThe lawsuit was filed on behalf of the family of Margaret Caldwell, 29, who went by Meg and lived in Clermont, Florida. Relatives who spoke exclusively to NBC News said Caldwell was inhaling nitrous oxide hundreds of times a day and insisted it must not be dangerous because it was so easy to buy.
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