Larger nitrous oxide canisters spark fears in Manurewa

Nine bottles in 10 minutes.

That's how many discarded nitrous oxide canisters Manurewa Local Board chairperson Matt Winiata says he found across three local streets, with some far larger than the small silver 'nangs' commonly scattered across Auckland.

The discovery prompted Winiata to front Auckland Council's Safety and Regulatory Committee public forum on Tuesday, urging councillors to press central government for urgent controls on the sale and size of nitrous oxide bottles.

Nitrous oxide, known as nangs, is legally sold as a whipped-cream propellant. But Winiata warned councillors that bottles now appearing on local streets are up to 3.3 litres in size, the equivalent of 300 small canisters.

"The smaller ones are eight and a half grams. The larger ones here are an equivalent of 80 of those," he said.

"This is a 3.3 litre bottle, the equivalent of 2000 grams of nitrous oxide, 300 of these small ones in one sitting. It's quite stark and very much a problem."

Prior to the meeting, Winiata shared with Local Democracy Reporting a photo showing one of the larger canisters beside a soccer ball for scale. At the committee, he also brought several canisters as props to illustrate his concerns.

'Presented like a video game'

Winiata said the packaging was designed to appeal to young people.

"There's no way that a creamer like this should resemble anything close to a video game product," he told the committee. "The imagery is identical to what you would find on Grand Theft Auto."

One canister was labelled Miami Magic Infusion, covered in bright graphics and explosions. Another featured flaming lips similar to the Rolling Stones logo, alongside fast cars.

"If this is a hospitality product, there's no reason why it should be dressed up like this," Winiata said.

Councillors weigh in

Councillor Julie Fairey said the issue echoed familiar gaps between industry and regulation.

"It's a little bit like some of the conversations we've had in the vaping space where the industry is getting ahead of regulation," she said.

"Central and local government are trying to catch up with regulation that reflects the change in the product they're offering."

Fairey asked for clarity on what council could do through bylaws versus what required government action.

"Are there things we can do before they do things? Are there things that we can lobby them to do? It sounds like you're already underway with that."

Councillor Lotu Fuli noted the imagery and raised concerns about access.

"If you think about Fast and Furious, it's a huge franchise and hugely popular in our area," she said. "If it's behind dairies, behind bakeries, you know that's not being used by boy racers in their cars. It's probably accessible to kids, and that's the part that we don't want.

"I think this should at least be raised with police so they're aware it's an issue.

"All of us together, local and central government, need to get ahead of it so we don't end up with the same problems we've had with vapes, Pandora's box is already open."

A call for urgent regulation

Winiata said he had sought advice from lawyer Dr Grant Hewison, who suggested the Ministry of Health and council's regulatory committee were the right places to raise the matter.

He proposed measures to limit harm, including:

• Capping the maximum size of bottles sold for hospitality use
• Requiring minimum-quantity sales to create a cost barrier
• Restricting supply to licensed businesses with sales records kept for 12 months
• Introducing plain packaging rules to prevent marketing to young people

"If we can't outlaw these products, then they should at least be capped, controlled, and recorded," Winiata said.

Committee backs action

Committee chair Josephine Bartley said Winiata's presentation showed the need for swift advocacy.

"The committee carries some weight," she said. "I'm really keen for the committee to get behind you and get that information we need, and see what other levers we can use on this issue."

Bartley highlighted the committee had previously written to ministers on vaping, with its shopfront recommendations adopted.

Councillors then resolved to request staff to come back with options for stronger advocacy and regulation of recreational nitrous oxide use, including larger canisters.

Winiata said the larger bottles had only started appearing in Manurewa recently.

"This is all very new… this is literally a week and a half since I've come across all of these items. With the larger one being found on Saturday, the weekend just gone, which accelerated the need to want to present to the Regulatory Committee."

Winata told Local Democracy Reporting, "This is going to be devastating if we can't get on top of this, and the youth of our community will suffer incredibly."

LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.