Citation

Nutt D. Drug Sci. Policy Law 2023; 9: e205032452311700.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2023, SAGE Publications)

DOI

10.1177/20503245231170039

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

In March 2023 the UK government minister Michael Gove announced plans to make the selling of nitrous oxide (laughing gas) illegal under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 (MDAct1971). The justification for this planned change in the law is to stop the use in public places with the subsequent littering of the small metal canisters or whippits that the gas is sold in. Why the use of nitrous oxide and littering of whippits should demand criminalisation of perpetrators whereas the use of alcohol with littering of cans and bottles will only attract civil sanctions (if dealt with at all) exposes the intellectual dishonesty behind the proposed law.
Another bizarre aspect of Gove's statement is his apparent ignorance of the fact that selling nitrous oxide is already illegal under the Psychoactive Substances Act and has been since 2016. The sole difference between the two Acts is that under the Psychoactive Substances Act, possession for personal use is not a criminal offence. Under the MDAct1971 possession for recreational use will attract a penalty of up to 2 years in prison if nitrous oxide is put into Class C of the Act, or more if placed in a higher class. Even if only 10% of current nitrous oxide users were incarcerated this would double the prison population! The financial absurdity of this would hopefully dissuade judges from passing custodial sentences but the social and employment impact of having another million young people getting criminal records would be disastrous. If the Home Secretary really thinks that a threat of arrest will stop use she has clearly not been made aware of repeated failures of similar policies for many drugs, especially cannabis.

Language: en