A heartbroken mom is issuing a warning about the dangers of 'hippy crack' after her daughter tragically died from inhaling it.

Ashley Weir, who died at 30 years old, started inhaling nitrous oxide, also known as whippets or laughing gas, in 2020 after being introduced to it while working in a restaurant.

Mom Carissa Garabedian, 58, said her daughter started buying small cartridges, traditionally sold to make whipped cream, before working her way up to larger tanks.

Ms Garabedian said Ashley, who would often buy multiple canisters of nitrous oxide per day, did a number of stints in rehab trying to battle her addiction - each time vowing she'd quit for good.

After going to a treatment facility for a month in 2021, the travel advisor said Ashley was sober for two years before relapsing in August 2023.

A little over a year later, Ashley died and was found dead in bed at her home in Pompano Beach, Florida, 'surrounded by tanks of nitrous oxide' after suffering an accidental overdose.

Ms Garabedian said: 'I never thought I was going to lose her to this. I'm continuing to struggle everyday with the finality of it all. She was full of life and love and was an amazing individual with a heart of gold.

'I feel like I'm expected to live every day with part of me that's completely broken.' 

In the United States, nitrous oxide is not considered a controlled substance. 

Possession is considered legal under federal law, but prosecution is possible for selling or distributing nitrous oxide for the purpose of human consumption.

While the gas is supposed to be used in whipped cream, cocktails and coffees, or as a sedative in medicine, people are instead inhaling it, which acts on the nervous system and gives the user a minute-long head rush and a euphoric, tingly feeling.

Dr Sulagna Misra, a primary care physician, previously told DailyMail.com: 'This issue is very troubling because the high is temporary and is constantly being chased, and the product is very accessible.'

Ms Garabedian, from Richmond, Virginia, said: 'It was very hard for me to see her struggling so much.

'I think she always wanted to stop and she just couldn't.

'She was in therapy and she did have a sponsor but the laughing gas was so readily available, with no limitations.

'She could buy it online, or at the gas station, and no one would know she was taking it.

'The legality of it all made it a very confusing thing. Why would it be sold everywhere if it was that dangerous?'

Dr Misra said people can overdose and die from inhaling too much at one time because it cuts off oxygen supply to the brain and body.

Whippets have been abused for decades, but research from the Royal London hospital suggests it's been 'rapidly rising' in both the US and UK, and has become the seventh most popular drug in the world.

There are no recent reports on the number of deaths linked to laughing gas and the latest data is from 2016. It shows there had been 29 deaths in the US from nitrous oxide, according to a study from Yale doctors.

Ashley died on November 29, 2024 and the specific nitrous oxide product Ashley was using is it not known.

Ms Garabedian said she was 'broken' over her daughter's death and she 'never thought she'd lose her daughter to the drug.'

Now, she wants to warn others of the potential dangers of using the drug recreationally - and believes that more should be done to stop it being sold at vape shops.

Ms Garabedian said: 'I believe that many don't realize the impact that nitrous oxide has on your body - the deprivation of oxygen and the killing of the organs.

'It's a very debilitating and obviously deadly substance that is not being recognized by so many and is continuing to be sold.

'I 100 percent believe that if it wasn't as readily available, then it would have been more challenging for Ashley to stop taking it.

'Do vape shops really need to be selling these tank-sized cans of nitrous oxide?

The mom continued: 'No one is walking into a vape shop to buy it for whipped cream, or for a dentists or doctors. It's very misleading.

'I believe there's nothing safe about nitrous oxide - in any form or any amount.

'More should be done to keep this off the shelves for public selling. There's no reason the average person needs to be able to buy this.'