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Nitrous oxide (N₂O) use for recreational purposes appears to have increased among young people in several countries, including Denmark, Australia, The Netherlands and the UK. This increase has prompted concern among health authorities and politicians. The purpose of this paper is to map out findings in the available literature about N₂O use among young people to better understand current trends and contextualize the public concerns and the new policy responses to it.

The authors draw here on a range of sources, including research literature, reports and policy documents in English and Danish. Given the broad aim, the authors used a scoping study approach (Arksey and O’Malley, 2005).

The authors found literature on prevalence of use, health effects and policy regulations. The literature suggests that health harms associated with N₂O use are generally associated with intensive and long-term use, and death is more likely where the means of administration entails a risk of suffocation. Overall, however, the analysis shows that substantial gaps exist in the available literature. The authors lack detailed knowledge on several issues, including comparable prevalence data of N₂O use; the extent to which N₂O is used with other drugs; how one can distinguish between harmful and non-harmful use in terms of both quantity inhaled and mode of administration; and on intended and unintended consequences of policy responses to this use.

The current increase and trend in inhaling N₂O for intoxication among young people is under researched. This general review maps out what kind of knowledge would be valuable to have for prevention, harm reduction and policy interventions.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss how a “holistic approach” is enacted in two interventions accommodating the same target group, young adults with offending behaviour and drug use experiences, but offered in very different contexts, the Prison Service and the community. The aim is to show how enactments of a “holistic approach”, although similar on paper, differ in welfare institutional practices due especially to organisational and structural conditions.

The paper is based on qualitative semi-structured interviews and written material from and about the two interventions.

Different enactments of a “holistic approach”, due to organisational and structural conditions of the interventions, construct different possibilities for institutional identities. These insights could be useful to take into consideration when discussing prevention initiatives (in a broad sense) for young people with complex problems, including co-occurring offending behaviour and drug use experience.

Research with a focus on citizens with complex problems who do not comply with OR conform to standard welfare institutions are limited. The authors contribute to this literature by focussing on young adults with offending behaviour and drug experiences.