Children are getting their kicks by inhaling a dangerous gas.
Youngsters in Brightlingsea have been taking nitrous oxide, a dental anaesthetic known as laughing gas.
"Hippy crack," one of its other names, starves the brain of oxygen and produces an intense high.
Health experts have warned abuse can severely damage health or be fatal.
Police in Brightlingsea have been handed dozens of small silver canisters, just 2ins in length, which contained the gas.
They can be bought legally to make whipping cream or fill balloons, but youngsters in the town have been inhaling the contents.
Town council ground staff have regularly found canisters at Promenade Way and Millennium Garden.
- More in today's Gazette
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