Students at the Penryn Campus have been using social media to source drugs banned last year as part of the government's war on psychoactive substances.

An anonymous poster wrote to Facebook student forum Penryn Campus Fitfinder asking if anyone knew where they could get "cream chargers," used in the catering industry but also a popular way of buying nitrous oxide, otherwise known as laughing gas.

While the gas has many uses, including being used as a popular anaesthetic by dentists and for women in childbirth, it was outlawed last year as a result of the Psychoactive Substances Act.

However the anonymous student wrote on Fitfinder: "Does any1 kno where u can get cream chargers frmm in bulk? Want to make some mr whippy." [sic]

The responses from several other users gave away the probable intentions of the original post, with one person asking:"Want some balloons with that?" Balloons are the most popular way of inhaling the gas after it has been released from the canisters it is supplied in.

Another wrote "nossington" - nos is a popular term for nitrous oxide, and a third poster just wrote "subtle."

One other person added: "Stop acting like you don’t already know what’s going on."

However it appears there was a happy ending for the original poster, as someone directed them to a website which even provides next day delivery.

The Packet has approached Falmouth University for a comment, although it is not clear which university the original poster attends.

FX Plus, which runs the Penryn Campus, said the Fitfinder page was not affiliated with the universities, and declined to comment on students using Facebook to procure drugs.

Laughing gas, dubbed 'hippy crack' by the tabloid press, was involved in eight deaths in 2016, the highest number on record in more than 20 years, although reports show that most of these were related to asphyxia with a plastic bag, and statistics show it killed fewer people than helium.

However it can have other effects such as reducing the amount of vitamin B12 in the body, and experts warn the temporary dizziness it causes can put users at higher risk of being harmed in other ways.

Although it was made illegal last year, the first cases contested under the new law collapsed after judges found it to be an exempt substance, however the government has said it remains illegal and the Home Office will continue to prosecute cases involving nitrous oxide.