UK imposes ban on ‘laughing gas’ due to nuisance behavior, health hazards
Reuters reported. In an official statement, Britain's policing minister Chris Philp said, “For too long the use of this drug in public spaces has contributed to anti-social behaviour which is a blight on communities.
We will not accept it." Under the new ban, people who repeatedly misused laughing gas could face fines or up to two years in prison, with the maximum jail punishment for dealing the drug doubled to 14 years. The health ministry figures stated that nitrous oxide is the third most common drug used by 16 to 24-year-olds, and heavy use can result in anemia, and in more severe cases, nerve damage or paralysis, as per Reuters reports.
Britain's Interior Minister Suella Braverman in September this year said that people were "fed up" with the use of drugs in public spaces, with discarded gas canisters being littered across Britain's streets. The government said the ban exempts its legitimate use including for healthcare, dentistry, and other industries.
Licenses will not be required, but users will need to demonstrate they are "lawfully in possession" of the drug and not intend to inhale it, it added. The nitrous oxide will be prescribed as a "Class C" drug and classified in "the least harmful" category of drugs under Britain's laws alongside anabolic steroids, benzodiazepines, and growth hormones.
The ban, first proposed by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's Conservative government in March and now imposed under the 1971 Misuse of Drugs Act, is part of a wider crackdown on lawlessness before an expected general election next year. (With Reuters inputs)Milestone Alert!
Livemint tops charts as the fastest growing news website in the world
