The co-ordinator of one of the areas at Glastonbury Festival has written an open letter pleading with the public to stop using nitrous oxide (laughing gas) in the space.
Liz Eliot, who runs Glastonbury’s Green Fields, the festival's "sacred space", posted the letter on the site, saying it broke her heart to see the area used for drugs.
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"Sadly the King’s Meadow has lost its way. It’s become known as a place where people take nitrous oxide, a damaging drug which pollutes our beautiful field with noise, litter and N2O gas (a greenhouse gas which is 298 times more polluting than carbon dioxide).
"Nitrous oxide is also dangerous: an exploding canister was the source of a major injury at last year’s Glastonbury."
Eliot says two tonnes of canisters were left in the circle of stones in the meadow, which represents the major stars of the Cygnus constellation, last year.
King's Meadow at Glastonbury Festival
"Now, though, is the time to reclaim the spirit and lighten up the energies," she added. "Nitrous oxide will not be welcome in the King’s Meadow at Glastonbury 2015, and we will be asking people not to use it."
Eliot's plea comes as doctors warn more youths may die from the drug after an "explosion" in use among teenagers.
"There's evidence that its use has mushroomed over the past few years," Dr Paul Seddon, respiratory consultant and neonatal paediatrician at the Royal Alexandra Children's Hospital in Brighton, East Sussex, said.
"What's little-known is that long-term use can result in all sorts of severe complications, such as causing problems to the nervous system."
