Nitrous oxide will become a class C drug and outlawed by the end of the year, the government announced on Tuesday.
Users of the substance, also known as laughing gas, face up to two years in prison or an unlimited fine, while dealers could receive 14 years sentences.
NOS, which is often inhaled from balloons, is the third most commonly used drug among 16 to 24-year-olds in England.
Following Notting Hill carnival last month, Kensington and Chelsea council said it collected five skips of empty NOS canisters from its streets.
The canisters must be collected separately to other waste as there is a risk they could explode if compacted.
Home Secretary Suella Braverman said: “The British people are fed up with yobs abusing drugs in public spaces and leaving behind a disgraceful mess for others to clean up.
“Earlier this year the Prime Minister and I promised a zero-tolerance approach to antisocial behaviour and that is what we are delivering. If you are caught using 'laughing gas' as a drug, you could be hit with a hefty fine or face jail time.
“New schemes are already underway to increase police patrols in hotspot areas of antisocial behaviour and dish out punishments for perpetrators more quickly, and police will soon be able to drug test people arrested for a wider range of illegal drugs.”
Earlier this year levelling up secretary Michael Gove announced that the gas would be banned in anti-social behaviour clampdown.
His statement went much further than the recommendations of a Home Office review, which stopped short of recommending a outlawing the gas, which is used in the catering industry for whipping cream.
Crime and policing minister Chris Philp said: "We cannot allow young people to think there are no consequences to misusing drugs. There is no question that abusing laughing gas is dangerous to people's health and it is paramount we take decisive action before the situation gets worse."
