A Chinese woman who had been studying in the U.S. has been returned to China in a wheelchair after becoming addicted to nitrous oxide, commonly known as "laughing gas."
Lin Na (pseudonym), who had been studying in Seattle, is now being treated in a Beijing hospital and still cannot walk, the Beijing Youth Daily reported on Monday. The report did not mention Lin's age.
Lin says she has been addicted to laughing gas for over half a year. Her habit has damaged her body, leaving her incontinent and unable to walk, according to an article she wrote which recently went viral on Chinese social media, receiving over 100,000 views as of press time.
"It is so horrible. I had been studying in U.S. for over ten years and always been restrained, but all my willpower was destroyed after I tried the gas," Lin told the media.
Lin tried to kick her addiction at the start of the year, but resumed inhaling the gas in March and her addiction became worse than ever, according to the Beijing Youth Daily.
Lin said that a box of laughing gas canisters cost $180 in a tobacco store near her apartment and she used to spend over 100,000 yuan ($14,735) every month on the gas, which is usually placed into balloons prior to inhalation.
Laughing gas, which is used as an aerosol propellant in some food products, is not subject to federal narcotics laws in the U.S., but is instead regulated by the Food and Drug Administration which prohibits it from being sold or distributed for human consumption.
Lu Lin, an expert at the Peking University National Institute on Drug Dependence, told the media that laughing gas can cause irreversible harm to the human body.
