Getting high has never been so convenient — with half a dozen Perth businesses providing 24-hour door-to-door delivery of nitrous oxide canisters, which have been linked to brain damage and death.

Ordering the small metal canisters, known as “nangs”, is as easy as arranging for pizza delivery or Uber Eats.

If you’re out and about in the city, no problem — just arrange a collection point and you’ll get them in a jiffy, concealed in a food bag, no questions asked.

The Sunday Times got a cheery smile and a “have a fun night” send-off from the driver who delivered two small boxes containing 100 canisters to a car park within 30 minutes of our order.

The brazen sellers, with names like Mr Nangtastic, Nang-a-Roo and Nang Boss, are easy to find on Facebook and you can even read reviews from customers, who don’t mind that their names and their employers are visible to all. With the gas also used to make whipped cream, there are plenty of jokes about cakes, pavlovas and meeting customers’ late-night baking needs.

Legal to buy and just $1 a canister, it’s no surprise nangs are resurging in popularity across Australia.

As with most recreational drugs, there’s a catch. They present a range of health risks including brain damage. In the UK, 17 deaths have been attributed to inhaling nitrous oxide. And Sydney teenager Hamish Bidgood who fell 11 storeys from a Surfers Paradise hotel balcony to his death during schoolies celebrations, had reportedly inhaled nitrous oxide while partying with mates on the night he died.

The recent tragedy has put the bulb-like silver canisters in the spotlight.

“Nitrous oxide is a laughing gas,” Dr Ann-Maree Lynch, from the WA Poisons Information Centre, said.

“It can be abused to cause a euphoric effect, and inhalation of the gas displaces air and available oxygen making the person at risk of hypoxia. Oxygen supply to the brain can be impaired, as well as oxygen supply to other tissues including the heart.

“If the victim has collapsed, management is for ambulance assistance via 000. If the victim is confused and unsteady on their feet they require fresh air and medical attention.”

Dr Stephen Bright, senior lecturer of addiction at Edith Cowan University, said research was needed to ascertain usage among young people.

“I come from a harm reduction background where we assume people are going to engage in the behaviour, so we provide the information that is going to remove harm associated with that behaviour, ” he said.

With nangs, many users inhale the gas via balloons to avoid inhaling metal particles, but there was an increased risk of hypoxia from repeated inhaling and exhaling into a balloon, he said. It was safer to inhale once, then exhale normally.

“If you are going to do it, think about the environment you’re in; think about someone in the group who is going to be responsible and look after the person who is doing it,” Dr Bright said. He said bans don’t work and tended to increase harm.

“Also, a whole lot of foodies are going to be upset too if we ban nitrous oxide,” he added.

A spokesman for Police Minister Michelle Roberts said WA Police had advised her they were aware of online vendors selling the canisters.

“The minister intends to have further discussions with WA Police but there are no current plans to outlaw the sale of nitrous oxide cartridges,” he said.

A WA Police Force spokesman said: “Nitrous oxide is not considered a prohibited drug. However, under the criminal code it is against the law in WA for someone to supply an intoxicant in circumstances where the person knows, or where it is reasonable to suspect, that that, or another, person will use it to become intoxicated. A person found guilty of that offence is liable to imprisonment for 12 months and a fine of $12,000.

“There are also laws which allow police to confiscate volatile substances and move minors to a safe place if they are deemed to be intoxicated or at-risk.”