South London laughing gas ban comes into force

Banned for recreational use: Nitrous oxide, known as laughing gas
Steve Meddle/Rex
Ramzy Alwakeel17 August 2015

A ban on legal highs including laughing gas comes into force across an area of south London today, marking the first time the drug has been prohibited on the capital's streets.

Lambeth Council passed a public space protection order (PSPO) last month giving police and council officers the power to fine people up to £1,000 otherwise legal psychoactive drugs in the hope of cutting levels of antisocial behaviour.

The order borrows wording from the government's proposed "legal highs" ban to exempt substances such as caffeine, tobacco and alcohol.

But in other respects the council has criticised the law, currently working its way through Parliament, for not going far enough.

Lambeth's top councillor for neighbourhoods Jane Edbrooke said the legislation would leave a "big gap" in policing the use of substances such as laughing gas - also known as 'hippy crack'..

She said: "The government's new laws will tackle production, importation and supply of legal highs, but there's a big gap around actually tackling people who use these drugs and leave canisters lying all over our streets," said Cllr Edbrooke.

"The mess left in some of our neighbourhoods after a Friday and Saturday night just isn’t acceptable, with families having to witness this behaviour on a regular basis, as well as coming across these canisters in their playgrounds, parks and streets."

Last month 18-year-old Ally Calvert collapsed and died in Bexley. Police believed he had taken nitrous oxide.

The Psychoactive Substances Bill, if passed, would make it illegal to produce and supply laughing gas - but not to use it.

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Whitehall gave councils the power to make PSPOs as a means to tackle antisocial behaviour in 2014. Hackney Council came under fire earlier this year for proposing an order that could have seen rough sleepers fined - a plan it has since withdrawn.

Nitrous oxide has a medical use as a mild anaesthetic.

As a recreational drug it is usually inhaled from a balloon, costing as a little as 50p a hit, giving a brief feeling of euphoria. However heavy users can experience hallucinations, loss of blood pressure and even heart attacks.

Deaths are rare, with nine fatalities linked to nitrous oxide use between 2006 and 2012.

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