MPs vote 404-36 to make nitrous oxide a Class C drug
MPs have voted 404-36 to back a ban on nitrous oxide, also known as laughing gas – though the Government is still yet to decide how it will exempt legal uses of the drug.
130 Labour MPs sided with the Government by voting in favour of the amendment to the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 on Tuesday evening, including frontbenchers Emily Thornberry, Lisa Nandy and Hilary Benn – while two Conservatives and three Labour MPs joined the Scottish National Party, Plaid Cymru and Green MP Caroline Lucas in opposing the change.
Under the draft order, which will now go to the House of Lords for approval, nitrous oxide will become a Class C drug, punishable by a sentence of up to two years in prison or a large fine while dealers could face up to 14 years in prison and an unlimited fine.
The ban was promised earlier this year by Home Secretary Suella Braverman, who overruled independent expert advice from the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) – citing complaints of people littering the disposable metal canisters typically used for small quantities of the inhalable gas.
“The British people are fed up with yobs abusing drugs in public spaces and leaving behind a disgraceful mess for others to clean up,” she said. “If you are caught using ‘laughing gas’ as a drug, you could be hit with a hefty fine or face jail time.”
Nitrous oxide has a number of legitimate uses across the medical, industrial and catering sectors, and the Government has said it will “ensure that those wishing to use nitrous oxide for legitimate purposes can do so lawfully and without undue burdens”.
At present, the drug is routinely sold as a “cream charger” for whipping cream.
The Government is still consulting on how best to avoid criminalising legitimate uses, with options including a licensing scheme that would require applications from “any company or individual” who wishes to possess nitrous oxide.
A blanket exemption for “import, export, possession, production and supply of nitrous oxide… where this is for legitimate purposes” is also under consideration.
On Tuesday, Home Office minister Chris Philp said the Government would “table a further statutory instrument that will take effect alongside this one, which will make it clear that the sale and use of nitrous oxide for legitimate purposes will not be criminalised in any way”.
He said this would cover “any use that does not involve inhalation by a human” as well as “research and medical purposes”.
Despite the ACMD not recommending a ban on the drug, Mr Philp said: “The evidence we have seen about the neurological damage caused in particular by large-scale consumption of nitrous oxide is very worrying.”
Dr Dan Poulter, an NHS psychiatrist and one of the two Tory MPs to vote against the change, challenged the claim, adding: “The ACMD was very clear that it did not believe that the medical harms of nitrous oxide pose anything like the significance of those caused by many other street drugs, or indeed alcohol. Alcohol-related brain damage causes much more neurological harm than many street drugs do.”
He warned of “the potential for unintended consequences” given the lack of clarity on how exemptions from the ban will function, adding that the Government “will achieve very little through these measures, except perhaps to cause considerable disruption to industry and the medicinal use of nitrous oxide”.
SNP MP Alison Thewliss questioned whether litter was a legitimate reason to overrule export advice and make the drug illegal, adding: “We see beer cans littered all over our streets regularly. In parts of my constituency we see syringes littered about the place, and the Government do nothing about it… somehow uniquely, the Government seem concerned by the small canisters and the public nuisance of nitrous oxide.”
Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer both abstained in the vote, as did several prominent MPs who have previously admitted illegal drug use – including Chancellor Jeremy Hunt, Levelling Up secretary Michael Gove and former deputy prime minister Dominic Raab.