A BRADFORD doctor has warned people about the "potentially dangerous" side effects of nitrous oxide use, which could lead to "long-term disability".

Nitrous oxide, also known as laughing gas, has been used as a popular recreational drug, but doctors pointed out that, as the number of cases rises, so too are the number of cases of spinal cord and nerve damage.

Dr Cord Spilker, a consultant neurologist at Bradford Teaching Hospitals, said: "I've seen quite a few more people coming into hospital, sometimes one or two people a month.

"Nitrous oxide affects the spinal cord. Using the drug inactivates vitamin B12, stripping it from the nerves.

"Patients come in with pain, a loss of sensation, loss of power in their legs, unsteadiness and weakness.

"The concerning thing is most patients are aware of the risks.

"Some people are seeking treatment privately.

"Although it's illegal to distribute it, it's a legal high.

"They need to get a vitamin B12 injection and people are privately purchasing it and they'll say they are getting it on the advice of their dealer.

"They won't say anything else because they don't want to admit to other people they're taking it.

"It's fascinating they've said such a thing but terrifying at the same time.

"We need to spread the message that nitrous oxide is potentially dangerous and can cause life-long disability.

"It's difficult to treat because even though we're replacing B12, there's no guarantee of recovery.

"We get patients who cannot walk unassisted."

In addition to an increase in the number of patients, Dr Spilker said: "The real issue is also that the size of the (nitrous oxide) canister has changed.

"You used to just see the small 'whippit' ones but now you're getting the big canisters which have 150 times the amount."

Bradford woman Sofia Buncy MBE, national co-ordinator of Khidmat Centres, noticed the problem of the increased nitrous oxide use during the pandemic as more canisters were appearing on the streets of Bradford.

In June last year, Ms Buncy mapped the usage of laughing gas in Bradford, along with youth worker Sharat Hussain, and said the 'party drug' was being taken "literally everywhere" in the district.

She said: "It doesn't just harm those who use it but it harms the environment. It's like shrapnel when you drive over it.

"It isn't legislated as it should be. There's a quite blaise attitude about nitrous oxide. It's seen as a recreational drug, a hippie drug.

"It's causing all these health problems and people are losing their life over it. It doesn't discriminate. 

"It's been vastly underestimated by people. They don't know enough about the medical side effects. They're coming to the fore now.

"It's a really dangerous substance that needs to be curtailed at the point of sale. It needs recategorising."

The dealing and use of nitrous oxide have come to light in recent court cases and inquests in Bradford.

Bradford driver Zamir Shah, 27, had been inhaling nitrous oxide from a balloon moments before he tried to overtake a Porsche car in a Volkswagen Golf on Cottingley Cliffe Road on June 8, 2021. His car flipped into the air and ended up on his roof in the horror crash.

Shah, of Firethorn Close, Girlington, initially left his female passenger lying seriously injured at the scene of a crash. In Bradford Crown Court, he was jailed for three-and-a-half years for dangerous driving.

An inquest into the death of two men killed in a crash in Brighouse town centre on July 17, 2020, heard they were dealing nitrous oxide canisters. 

The hearing at Bradford Coroners' Court into the deaths of Mohammed Sohail Aziz, 23, and Suhail Ahmad Akhtar, 20, revealed the Dewsbury men had crashed into a road barrier in Bradford Road, Brighouse, during a high-speed police pursuit.

A police officer said nitrous oxide canisters had been discovered at the scene and evidence from mobile phones showed the men had been dealing and "engaged in the sale of nitrous oxide canisters". 

In February this year a woman who bought 480 canisters of laughing gas on eBay to give out at a party was sentenced to a two-year community order.

Donna Calder, of Whitby Road, Girlington, was convicted by a jury after a trial at Bradford Crown Court of being in possession of nitrous oxide on September 2, 2019, which she intended to supply for its consumption for its psychoactive effects.