A Brisbane man has drowned in a Surfers Paradise hotel spa after inhaling a nitrous oxide canister.
The 30-year-old man became unconscious after inhaling so-called nangs and slipped under the water at Sovereign Towers on Sunday night.
Paramedics were unable to revive him.
Police Acting Superintendent Scott Knowles said people needed to be aware of the dangers of inhaling the substance.
"This is really concerning," he said.
"This is one of the incidents involving the nangs, as the young people call them, or the [nitrous oxide] canisters that are used for whipped cream.
"The way that these affect the body is that they cause a lack of oxygen, which is what gives that high, but unfortunately that led to him falling unconscious and because he was in a spa, he drowned.
"He was found by the management of the hotel and police were called after that."
Queensland Ambulance Service Assistant Commissioner of the Gold Coast Region, Drew Hebbron, said nitrous oxide could "lead to a decrease in conscious states".
"[It] can be very dangerous around water, pools, the ocean," he said.
"Any legal substance even, that's being used in the wrong way, is dangerous and we would caution people against it."
