Young man using the laughing drug rams police car

A 20-year-old man tried to flee the Public Security Police (PSP) by car, after being caught by officers consuming nitrous oxide, associated with the 'laughing drug', in the early hours of this Sunday, on Doutor Alberto Pinheiro Torres Street, in Oeiras. During the escape, he crashed into the officers' car and was arrested shortly afterwards.

The PSP rapid response team was preparing to approach the driver when the suspect realized and started to flee. While still at the wheel, the young man crashed into five cars, one of which was a PSP vehicle, which suffered “slight damage to the left rear” but remained “operational for duty”, an official source told Observador.

The driver was eventually arrested by the Oeiras PSP and police from the Traffic Squad who attended the accident. Two nitrous oxide cylinders were seized during the operation. All the facts were reported to the Public Prosecutor's Office.

In just a few days, this is at least the second police seizure related to the laughing drug in Greater Lisbon. Between Friday night and Saturday morning, the PSP carried out a special crime prevention operation in Cova da Moura, in which they seized 12 bottles of nitrous oxide.

Young people inhale “laughing gas” and some end up in hospital with serious neurological injuries

The numbers related to this consumption have increased in recent years in Portuguese hospitals. According to data from Lusa, in 2020, three cases of young people with serious neurological injuries were identified, resulting from the consumption of nitrous oxide for recreational purposes; four in 2021; one in 2022. In 2023, none were recorded, and, in 2024, eight. In the first two months of 2025, five cases of poisoning by this gas have already been recorded.