The UK government’s advisory panel on drugs has rejected a call to ban the sale and possession of nitrous oxide – also known as laughing gas or nos – despite the home secretary’s desire to see the drug banned.
In 2021, the then home secretary Priti Patel asked her independent scientific advisers to review the evidence of harm associated with nitrous oxide. The Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) has now reviewed the evidence and has not recommended nitrous oxide be placed under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 (MDA), which would have made possession of the drug for non-exempted purposes a criminal offence.
The current home secretary, Suella Braverman, has made no secret of her view that nitrous oxide should be brought under the MDA. One reason for government interest has been its recent policy focus on antisocial behaviour.
