“I urgently call on the National Assembly to add laughing gas (recreational N₂O) and other new psychoactive substances to Article 6,” he said.

Nhan pointed out a disturbing contradiction: while health authorities issue warnings, police crack down, and media reports highlight the dangers of laughing gas, it remains legally unregulated - absent from the list of banned investment activities.

“There is no national data on laughing gas use not because it is harmless, but because it operates in a completely uncontrolled market,” he said. “It’s a market of five nos: no permits, no quality standards, no toxicity testing, no traceability, and no mandatory health reporting. A market with no legal oversight.”

Nhan emphasized that the issue isn’t a lack of regulatory capacity - it’s that “this market cannot be managed” without a legal framework. The only viable solution, he stressed, is to “shut it down at Article 6,” or risk the legal blind spot growing into a future health crisis.

He cited a study by Bach Mai Hospital showing that nitrous oxide poisoning almost invariably causes spinal cord damage, with rates ranging from 60% to 100%. Up to 82% of users experienced limb paralysis, and hormone levels surged to five times the norm - indicative of acute myelin sheath destruction. Many patients were permanently disabled after just weeks or months of use, and all showed lasting damage post-treatment.

N₂O harms the body through two toxic mechanisms. It depletes vitamin B12, damaging the nerve sheath and causing numbness and paralysis, sometimes irreversible. At the same time, it activates the brain’s pleasure center, leading to rapid dependence and escalating use.

“These two mechanisms combined mean young users are both neurologically impaired and addicted - making recovery nearly impossible,” Nhan said. “A substance that simultaneously destroys the nervous system and causes strong addiction like N₂O has no justification to remain legal - not even for a day.”

He warned that the primary users are students and young people - those most vulnerable to harm. “Laws are meant to protect the weak, not pave the way for products that exploit their ignorance,” he said.

No need to wait for 1,000 hospitalizations to ban it

Nhan argued that no legal system can keep up with the rapidly changing nature of new psychoactive substances. The answer, he said, is to preemptively ban them under Article 6 - not to continually react to criminal trends. The mindset of “no data, no ban” is inappropriate for risk governance. “No country waits until there are 1,000 hospitalizations to issue a ban,” he said.

He noted that many countries have already acted decisively on N₂O: the UK has banned it outright; the Netherlands prohibits its sale and possession; Thailand, Japan, and South Korea enforce strict controls; and the United States bans its sale for recreational use.

“No country has ever faced legal challenges for protecting the health of its young people,” Nhan added.

He urged the National Assembly to amend Article 6 to include a full ban on laughing gas (N₂O for recreational use) and new psychoactive substances. He also proposed that the government develop clear criteria for identifying such substances, and conduct a comprehensive review of industrial and food-grade gases to prevent commercial abuse targeting youth.

Supporting the call to ban e-cigarettes and heated tobacco, lawmaker Nguyen Anh Tri (Hanoi) proposed that Article 6 explicitly state: “The production, trade, import, possession, transportation, and use of electronic cigarettes, heated tobacco, and any gases or addictive substances harmful to human health are prohibited.”

He explained that the sale and use of these products has become “seriously concerning,” while the recreational abuse of nitrous oxide is “exploding in Vietnam.”

“The battle to eliminate these seemingly convenient, flavored, and ‘harm-reducing’ products will be long and difficult,” Tri warned.

Thanh Hue