this is "nightline." >> tonight, whiptok. the resurgence of a powerful party drug powered by social media. young people getting high on whip it. a former addict coming clean. >> i used to call them whomp-whomps. >> the hidden dangers. how one teen's first huff became his last breath. plus "judas and the black messiah." the life and death of the '60s black panthers leader. why the oscar-nominated film takes on new meaning in the face of america's racial reckoning. >> my mind went to breonna taylor. >> call it the way it is, murder. teaching kids about race with "sesame street" singing "i

am somebody." ♪ i am we are you are somebody ♪ liz, you nerd, cough if you' works on that too, and lasts 12 hours. 12 hours?! who studies that long? mucinex dm relieves wet and dry coughs. we do it every night. like clockwork. do it! run your dishwasher with cascade platinum. and save water. did you know certified dishwashers... ...use less than four gallons per cycle, while a running sink uses that, every two minutes. so, do it with cascade. the surprising way to save water.

♪ good evening. thank you for joining us. tonight the party drug making a comeback. whip its, dangerous and

addictive, invading tiktok. proving to be no laughing matter. here's "nightline's" ashan singh. >> reporter: in an age where people put everything on social media, a new trend on tiktok is sadly unsurprising. >> t ochok! >> reporter: young people inhaling whip its for cloud #whiptok. >> we can see the use of nitrous oxide glam rised on social media. >> reporter: the dangerous trend forcing the app to suspend accounts and remove videos that show users huffing the substance. there's live sessions where artists and musicians show themselves using the inhalant. >> children, adolescents, young adults will increase their use of substances based on who they see. >> reporter: whip its, nitrous oxide, laughing gas. once a niche party and concert drug. also known as hippie crack in the 1970s at grateful dead concerts. moving on to rave culture like

the burning man festival. seems like every decade of partygoers has had their encounter with the drug. but it wasn't seen as mainstream. that's now changing. >> now to the mystery surrounding the death of zappos tycoon -- >> reporter: the 2020 death of zappos ceo tony shea in a house fire, indicating the presence of whip it, among other paraphernalia. and jackass stuntman steveo, speaking out about the drug and his road to recovery. whip talk and other social media publicized usage ushering in a new generation of users. this rise exacerbated by the pandemic as young people are stuck at home looking to dissociate, and more turning to whip its. >> nitrous oxide is extremely addictive. patients may use it once every three to six months at a concert, but the problem is over the last year we've been seeing it used a 0 a daily basis.

>> reporter: one of the erptha p nddt i hoping to dispel. >> the experimental stuff was a chasing of novelty. i would have a mission to try everything out there. >> reporter: the novelty wore off but the need for a stronger high didn't. he turned to nitrous oxide, to what he says, give a boost to the drugs he was using. >> what are whip its? >> laughing gas. anesthetic. when you go to the dentist, it's what they put on you to calm you. the high of whip its is concentrating that gas and inhaling it. essentially huffing a gas. >> what are you feeling? >> i would use them with -- in combination withsyelic ugs. combinin nit like the fast and the furious when the car goes faster, it makes the trip

magnifi magnified. >> how long does the high last? >> about 30 seconds. you get a few and do more and more and more. it's a strong head buzz. >> reporter: he's now using his experience to educate users about the potential dangers of drug use, volunteering as a sponsor at a 12-step program. under the pseudonym "cg kid," crazy ginger kid, speaking publicly, like on this recovery podcast "this pink cloud." >> what do you feel it did for you that kept you coming back to it? >> pleasure seeker, whatever i could do that made me feel good. >> in the rave scene we saw, you know, there was canisters of nitrous oxide. >> reporter: making youtube videos to bridge the gap with people struggling with addiction. >> what's up, it's cg kid. i'm going to describe what nitrous is like. >> reporter: what exactly does it do to the brain? many think the inhalant is harmless, but in reality, it can have both short and long-term effects.

>> as you're pushing the oxygen off of those cells and replacing it with nitrous, there's decreased nutrients in the life-sustaining things that you need circulating through your body. the most worrisome thing is cognitive impairment. >> reporter: in an article from the nih from 2011 they outline the effect inhalants have on the brain. the brain on the left is one with no history of inhalant abuse. on the right is that of a chronic user. notice how the brain is both smaller and fills less space inside the skull. >> instead of oxygen circulating through your body, you have nitrous. and that's what can eventually lead to cardio respiratory arrest and asphyxiation, or death. >> he was a man of few words, but he was kind and he was -- i think tried to do the right thing. >> reporter: for 17-year-old jack shoneg, his first huff would end up being his last

breath. >> he'd never been on his own before. it was a little nerve-racking to get him go but nothing could have prepared us for what came next. >> reporter: in october 2019, he visited penn state for the weekend with friends for a football game. he went to a friend's house where he tried nitrous oxide. >> apparently they were doing whip its. took too much in. and he passed out. then his heart stopped because he couldn't get any oxygen in. and he went into full cardiac arrest. the officer was trying to be tactful. finally said, are you telling me my son is dead? yes, i'm telling you your son is dead, jack didn't make it. >> reporter: according to jack's autopsy, he had no alcohol or any other controlled substances in his body. >> i think he did it uneducated. i don't think he realized possibly what he was doing could eventually kill him. >> reporter: a reminder of the fragility of life in one bad decision. >> jack used to play here? >> he did. he's played here for a number of

years. if anybody went after one of his teammates, it was game over, he just wanted to protect his people. >> reporter: for the shoenigs, they hope sharing jack's story can other families. >> if you're not educated about something, get educated. >> hold your kids close. it's impossible to warn them of all dangers but try to prepare them for what's out there. >> it's important to emphasize that since these cartridges are legal and readily available, teens and young adults might not realize that they're very dangerous. >> reporter: you only have to be 18 to legally buy it. it's sold almost anywhere you can get whipped cream, including online. we tried to see how easy it was. we added a whipped cream dispenser and 50 whipped cream chargers to our cart. it's been a few days, and like any amazon package, our whip its are here. no questions asked. no signature required. we reached out to amazon for

comment and they said in part that nitrous oxide is commonly used to create whipped cream and other foods and sold by many major retailers and their page makes it clear these products are intended only for food preparation and shopping on amazon is limited to customers 18 and older. in terms of the supplies we ordered, an amazon rep let us know their products did not have the required disclaimers and that needs to be updated. >> it needs to be regulated in that sense because kids, young adu adults, adults are able to get their hands on it. >> reporter: until there's more regulation, it appears education and potential dangers might be the best way to keep people safe. >> the biggest take-home is how dangerous night truss oxide is. the inability to control how much you take in and the effects of that is also what's very scary. >> reporter: back in dallas, helping to spread this message is part of philip's new lease on a sober life.

>> how's your road to recovery? what are good days like? >> oh, man. i'm born again. >> is it surreal to be sitting here right now, even talking abou this? >> it took a lot of pain, a lot of hell i had to go through, to come out the other side. i had to face my demons. i came out the other side, and i'm connecting with something that i'm finding in life. >> our thanks to ashan. coming up, "judas and the black messiah." the revolutionaries fighting for black lives, then and now. ople o because it's just easy. bundling for example. you've got car insurance here. and home insurance here. why not... schuuuuzp.. put them together. save even more. some things are just better together, aren't they? like tea and crumpets. but you wouldn't bundle just anything. like, say... a porcupine in a balloon factory. no. that'd be a mess. i mean for starters, porcupines are famously no good in a team setting. geico. save even more when bundle home and car insurance.

up at 2:00am again? tonight, try pure zzzs all night. geico. save even more unlike other sleep aids, our extended release melatonin helps you sleep longer. and longer. zzzquil pure zzzs all night. fall asleep. stay asleep. each febreze car vent clip gives you up to 30 days of fresh air. so, you can have open window freshness... even with all the windows up. enjoy fresh, any time, with febreze. my plaque psoriasis... ...the itching ...the burning. the stinging. my skin was no longer mine. my psoriatic arthritis, made my joints stiff, swollen... painful. emerge tremfyant™ with tremfya®, adults with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis... ...can uncover clearer skin and improve symptoms at 16 weeks. tremfya® is also approved for adults with active psoriatic arthritis. serious allergic reactions may occur.

tremfya® may increase your risk of infections and lower your ability to fight them. tell your doctor if you have an infection or symptoms or if you had a vaccine or plan to. tremfya®. emerge tremfyant™ gillette proglide. janssen can help you explore cost support options. five blades and a pivoting flexball designed to get virtually every hair on the first stroke. so you're ready for the day with a fresh face for a fresh start. for a limited time get a 5th cartridge free.

so you're a small business, or a big one. you were thriving, but then... oh. ah. okay. plan, pivot. how do you bounce back? you don't, you bounce forward, with serious and reliable internet. powered by the largest gig speed network in america. but is it secure? sure it's secure. and even if the power goes down, your connection doesn't. so how do i do this? you don't do this. we do this, together. bounce forward, with comcast business.

♪

arriving in the wake of the deaths of george floyd and breonna taylor, the oscar nominated film "judas and the black messiah," the story of another police killing more than 50 years ago. on screen we go inside a movement many americans misunderstood. meet a man fewer still even knew, and we get to witness a performance by a young talent born an ocean away. >> i gave everything and i couldn't give it to them, chairman fred hampton. >> reporter: daniel kaluuya receiving his golden globe, honoring the fallen civil rights activist he portrayed, fred hampton, one of the leaders of the black panthers. the british-born kaluuya completely embodying the fiery american orator, digging deep to play the unflinching revolutionary, a controversial figure in what's become one of the movies of the year. >> these ain't no terrorists.

>> reporter: "judas and the black messiah" explores fred hampton's brief and explosive life through a modern prism. at just 21, hampton was an old soul, wise beyond his years. a warrior with a poet's heart. his rhetoric as relevant today as it was over 50 years ago. >> the connection to here and now, was that intentional? or waus coincidental? >> this is a stars align situation. there's many people that attempted to make chairman fred's story. >> black lives matter! >> reporter: the film, released in the wake of a racial reckoning in america, call it kismet. newfound box office clout just as new cries for racial justice are emerging. >> there's so many things that have to happen, business, industry, culturally. all these came to the fore. oh, wow, we just made a film about these people, chairman fred, the black panther party,

and they articulate how everyone's feeling right now. >> reporter: the panthers' image as a gun-toting militant group was only one side of a multi-colored and complicated house. director/cowriter shaka king takes us inside, floorboards to ceiling, to see up close this 1960s american house often divided, frequently dangerous, always unapologetic. >> i think that the general public thinks that the black panther party were storming police precincts armed, storming the capitol armed, ready to go to war with the police and forces of the state. when the truth of thenterested in feeding kids through a breakfast program, building medical clinics in impoverished neighborhoods. >> reporter: nominated for five oscars, "judas and the black messiah" making history with a team of all-black producers, breakout star kaluuya earning a nomination for best supporting actor.

>> it spoke to me. chairman had words for feelings that i had. pushed me and pushed my way of thinking, genuinely the way of thinking. >> reporter: if fred hampton is the messiah, the fbi is the roman empire. >> our counterintelligence program must prevent the rise of a black messiah. >> reporter: the film's judas, bill o'neal, to get close to and ultimately betray the black panther leader in chicago. >> get good information, something nobody else knows, some kind of bonus or something? >> well, i'm -- i'm counting on it, bill -- >> walk me through one of the most powerful scenes in the film, the "i am a revolutionary" speech from the church pulpit. >> there's not a question of violence or nonviolence. it's a question of of fascism. you can't murder liberation. >> that's how he spoke, that's what he meant.

and i believe that 52 years later, we are here talking about these words. which is testament to what he is saying. >> reporter: kaluuya, the 52-year-old actor who grew up in public housing in london, staking a claim in hollywood. of all the muscular, important roles you've made, "get out," "black panther," chairman fred hampton, which has resonated the most? >> chairman challenged my thinking. professionally and personally. >> i want to share something with you. >> reporter: fundamental to telling the truth here, fred hampton's family. his then fiancee and son, chairman fred hampton jr., who both consulted on set. >> a lot of misinformation had been put forth about the black panther party against chairman fred. and so we had to -- i guess you'd say knock that down. i told daniel, i said, oh, i ain't worried about you, you got this. i knewom

life experiences and why he wanted to play chairman fred. >> we were in former relationship. with not only script writers, producers, the cast. >> reporter: the film evokes disturbing and all too familiar drawing parallels to the recent killings of unarmed black men and women in america. >> in the end, when chairman fred hampton is killed, for me in watching it, my mind immediately, unintentionally but immediately, went to breonna taylor. i thought about george floyd. these moment in current-day america where black people in encounters with police ends in the most violent and brutal day. >> ends in murder. call it the way it is, it's murder. >> reporter: asleep by chairman fred's side, 8 november months pregnant, seeing that moment come to life on screen, too difficult to watch. >> i have not sat through the

movie entirely. i'll get up and go to the bathroom so nobody will see me cry. i still have e sti go through i will. and that's somethihal be with me for the rest of my life. >> reporter: though the police were never charged, the city of chicago settling with survivors and family members for $1.8 million in 1983. born less than a month after his father's killing, hampton jr., now 51, an activist like his father, serving as chairman of the black panther party cubs. >> we are the ideological offspring of that organization. unfortunately, we are dealing with the same issues the black panther party had to deal with. police brutality we refer to as police terrorism. >> reporter: jerri, a lifelong activist devoting herself to social justice causes in chicago. >> i feel complete as a person when i'm doing this work. i used to make a je a

that the sri of chairman fred would haunt me if in this period we haven't achieved freedom or power tobecome a reality. >> reporter: the spirit of chairman fredrk now resurrected and the black messiah." though he died young, the wisdom of his words proved prophetic. >> you can murder a revolutionary, but you can't murder revolution! >> "judas and the black messiah" is now in theaters. up next, the new and diverse faces of "sesame street" singing "i am somebody." ♪ i am you are we are somebody ♪ ♪ like a giant i'm tall getting taller ♪ ♪ i'm strong getting stronger ♪

you're not using too much are you hon? charmin ultra soft is so soft you'll have to remind your family they can use less. charmin ura you'll have to remind your family they can use less. enjoy the go with charmin. want to brain better? unlike ordinary memory supplements— neuriva has clinically proven ingredients that fuel 5 indicators oferrmance. memory, focus, accuracy, learning, and concentration.

try our new gummies for 30 days and see the difference. when i'm shaving down there not just any razor will do new venus for pubic hair and skin with a patented irritation defense bar for a smooth shave with blades that barely touch skin ♪ i'm my venus ♪ during photosynthesis, plants convert solar energy into chemical energy, cleaning the oxygen we breathe. plants clean the air. when applied to stained textiles, plant-based surfactants like the ones in seventh generation detergent trap stains at the molecular level and flush them away. plant-based detergents clean your clothes. it's just science! just... science. seventh generation. powered by plants. tackles stains.

♪ ♪ finally tonight, the abcs of diversity. meet wes and his dad elijah. two new black muppets moving onto "sesame street," the

legendary tv program introducing the duo to teach young people about race. >> i'm wondering why skin is brown. >> my mom and dd me,adin, tt's. >> joining the rest of the colorful cast saying they are somebody who will stand up against racism. ♪ i am you are we are somebody ♪ >> sparking a conversation. that's "nightline" for this evening. catch our full episodes on hulu. we'll see you right back here same time tomorrow. thanks for the company, america. good night.