The patient admitted last fall to the University of Florida’s addiction treatment center had worked as a professional pilot.

But months of abusing nitrous oxide, an anesthesia gas that can induce euphoria, had wreaked havoc on his neurological system and left him irreversibly paralyzed, said Dr. Kent Mathias, director of the UF Health Florida Recovery Center.

Florida resident Meg Caldwell, 29, was found dead outside an Orange County smoke shop in November after becoming hooked on “whippets”, a slang term for small canisters that contain the gas, according to her autopsy report.

It wasn’t hard to fuel their addictions. Under brand names like Galaxy Gas and Doodlez, nitrous oxide can be bought in gas stations and smoke shops across Florida. Brightly colored canisters of the gas infused wi

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