Could laughing gas ban be pushing people to more dangerous drugs?
A young woman with a bright yellow balloon in her mouth giggles as a police car pulls up beside her. Next to her in the Fiat 500, her friend inhales gas from a blue balloon.
Both women are visibly high and still giggling as two officers jump out of their car. Their mission: a targeted operation to catch people suspected of inhaling banned laughing gas.
“I’ve just seen a couple of balloons, so we believe you’ve been using nos,” one of the officers, Spelthorne Borough Commander Matthew Walton, tells the women.
Since November, nos – nitrous oxide, commonly referred to as laughing gas – has been categorised as a Class C substance and banned for recreational use.
Prosecutions can lead to a two-year prison term.
But data from 22 police forces across the UK, put together by Sky News, reveal that fewer than 78 arrests were made for nitrous oxide possession in the first three months of the ban – and 16 people were charged.
Officers found used balloons and a large box containing several large canisters of nitrous oxide
Read more:
13 tonnes of canisters collected after Notting Hill carnival
What is nitrous oxide?
‘No laughing matter’
The police conducting the operation last month in Staines had been tipped off by a local litter-picking organisation about nitrous oxide hotspots.
The officers find used balloons and a large box containing several large canisters of nitrous oxide. Suddenly, no one is laughing anymore.
A female officer conducts body searches. Up on the fence next to the women a sign warns of a £1,000 fine for anyone using nitrous oxide. “No laughing matter,” it reads.
Neither woman is arrested or charged; instead the driver, who appeared to be in her late teens, is offered a voluntary attendance interview.
“Depending on what she says we’ll make a disposal decision which could be a police caution, referral to Checkpoint (education on drug-driving) that they have to pay for themselves, like a speed awareness course,” says Commander Walton. “Or it could lead to a charge.”
Police say they are trying to strike a balance – but also be aware of the risks surrounding the gas.
“We’ve obviously got to balance it against all our other priorities,” Commander Walton told Sky News, emphasising the need for police to be proportionate in their response to young people out having fun.
But he warned that nitrous oxide could lead to other, more serious crimes.
“I think there is degree, especially with the age of the people we’ve got here, that where nos goes, cannabis follows. And sometimes harder drugs.”
The Metropolitan Police said officers prioritised offences which posed a more immediate risk
Notting Hill Carnival
Three friends sit on the side of a pavement at the Notting Hill Carnival. A barbecue throws smoke up in the air and children play next to a stall selling chicken and rice.
One of the friends is holding a silver balloon in her mouth and almost doesn’t notice when it whizzes away as she smiles. Straight away, she pulls out another. It’s noisy at Carnival but you can still hear the hiss of the balloon being gassed up.
A big silver canister sits between her legs and she laughs with friends when they realise they’ve been spotted by the Sky News camera. The nonchalance doesn’t go away even when three police officers walk in their direction.
But the officers walk on by, despite seeing the group doing balloons. A few moments later a patrol car also rolls by slowly. Still, no intervention.
Some 7,000 police officers were deployed to this year’s Notting Hill Carnival, the UK’s largest annual street party.
The Metropolitan Police said officers prioritised offences which posed a more immediate risk.
Police in Staines had been tipped off by a local litter-picking organisation
But it led to questions from drug policy experts about whether a ban on nitrous oxide was justified in the first place.
“Prohibitions generally can mutate behaviours and markets, but what they don’t do is stop people taking drugs,” said Steve Rolles, senior policy analyst at Transform Drug Policy.
Mr Rolles explained that the law is working to reduce the public profile of nitrous oxide in big events which are subject to high surveillance.
Indeed, discarded canisters from Carnival were down by roughly half this year. But Mr Rolles explains that it could mean repeat users carry on misusing in private, unsupervised spaces, and warns of another, potentially more dangerous consequence.
“If the result is to push people from nitrous oxide to other more harmful drugs then that’s not really a public health win.
“You might have a lot less litter but from a public health point of view things may have got worse.
“You can see how policy makers may try to mark this ban as a success but these things tend to displace the problem – either geographically where users carry on somewhere else – or they move to drugs which they can use in a more inconspicuous way.
“More drinking, more cannabis, more ketamine. And probably more dangerous.”
Counter-terrorism police are investigating after an incident involving a crossbow and a firearm left two women injured in Leeds.
Police were called to Otley Road at 2.47pm on Saturday to reports of a “serious incident involving a man seen with weapons”, West Yorkshire Police said.
Officers arrived at the scene to find two women injured – and a 38-year-old man with a self-inflicted injury. All three were taken to hospital, with the man held under arrest, but their injuries are not believed to be life-threatening.
“Two weapons have been recovered from the scene, which were a crossbow and a firearm,” Counter Terrorism Policing North East said in a statement.
The incident happened on the ‘Otley Run’ pub crawl, with one venue saying it was closed for the evening due to “unforeseen circumstances”.
Officers guard one of the crime scenes
Officers inside the cordon in Leeds
Counter Terrorism Policing’s statement added: “Due to the circumstances surrounding the incident, Counter Terrorism Policing North East have taken responsibility for leading the investigation with the support of West Yorkshire Police.
“Extensive enquiries continue to establish the full circumstances and explore any potential motivation.”
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper described it as a “serious violent incident” and said she was being kept updated by police.
“Thank you to the police and emergency services for their swift response,” she said. “My thoughts are with the victims and all those affected by this attack.”
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Wrexham AFC have been promoted for the third season in a row.
The North Wales-based side has gone from the National League to the Championship in just three seasons, under its Hollywood owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney.
Wrexham were second in the table and had a run of eight games unbeaten ahead of their match against Charlton Athletic on Saturday, which they won 3-0.
Wrexham’s James McClean lifts the League One trophy. Pic: PA
Wrexham’s Dan Scarr celebrates with the fans on the pitch after Wrexham won promotion to the Championship. Pic: PA
It is the first time any club has been promoted for three consecutive seasons within the top five tiers of English football.
The third oldest association football club in the world, Wrexham AFC was bought by Reynolds and McElhenney in 2020, and has since been the subject of a Disney+ documentary, Welcome To Wrexham.
Reynolds, wearing a Wrexham sweatshirt, and McElhenney were pictured celebrating each goal, and after the game, as the fans came onto the pitch at the SToK Cae Ras (Racecourse Ground) to celebrate the victory with the players.
Wrexham co-owners Rob McElhenney (L) and Ryan Reynolds and Ryan’s wife Blake Lively, before the match. Pic: PA
Both stars came onto the pitch after the supporters returned to the stands.
Speaking to Sky Sports, McElhenney praised those behind the scenes, referring to “so many that don’t get the credit they deserve, people who aren’t talked about”.
Reynolds said bringing success back to the club “seemed like an impossible dream” when they arrived in North Wales in 2020.
Wrexham’s Sam Smith celebrates in front of the fans after Wrexham won promotion to the Championship. Pic: PA
He put the three promotions down to “the coaching staff, the greatest dressing room” and an “all for one, one for all” attitude throughout the club, adding he was “speechless with their commitment and their emotion”.
As for the mouth-watering prospect of another promotion to the promised land of the Premier League, the pair agreed it was “for tomorrow”, before ending the interview with a joint mic-drop.
Veteran striker Steven Fletcher said, “as soon as I came to this club, I knew it was something special. We want to go again. We’ll reset in the summer, take a break and go again”.
“It has been a success.”
Just Stop Oil (JSO) insists it’s been “successful” – as its members ceremoniously hang up their orange high-vis vests during a march in central London.
Since the group formed three years ago, it’s drawn attention and criticism for its colourful, controversial protests, which ranged from disrupting sporting events to throwing soup on Vincent van Gogh’s Sunflowers, and climbing on gantries over the M25. It sprayed orange paint over Stonehenge, and cost police forces tens of millions of pounds.
Those days are now behind it; to the relief of many.
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77 year old JSO activist recalled to prison
As a few hundred activists marched through London on Saturday, blocking roads as they went; taxi drivers blared their horns and football fans shouted abuse from the pavement.
The PA News Agency filmed the moment a white minivan seemed to drive towards a group of protesters blocking the road.
Protesters shouted “I’m being pushed back!” to police, while the driver could be heard shouting “What about my right to get home?” to the officers gathered.
But JSO never set out to be popular. And it believes its tactics – though hated – have been successful; thanks to the new Labour government’s commitment to not issue new oil or gas exploration licences.
That’s why, it says, its ceasing direct action.
JSO hangs up its high-vis jackets in central London on Saturday
A washing line of high-vis jackets signifies JSO’s disbanding
“This moment marks the success of the JSO campaign – our demand was to end new oil and gas licences and that is now government policy.
“As a result of which four billion barrels of oil are being kept under the North Sea. The campaign has reached a natural end.”
Dr Oscar Berglund, senior lecturer in international public and social policy, disagrees that JSO is disappearing because it’s been “successful”.
He told Sky News policing strength and public perception might have more to do with it.
“They have very low levels of popularity. About 17% of the British population are kind of broadly supportive of what Just Stop Oil do. And that’s too low to recruit.
“It’s difficult to recruit members to something that is that unpopular, and then that a lot of people for good reason I think have kind of stopped believing in that kind of disruption as a means to achieve meaningful change.”
Group triggers specific new protest laws
One thing it did change is the law.
Policing commentator Graham Wettone tells us: “Obstruction of the highway, obstruction of rail networks for example, these are specific offences now.
“It’s given the police more tactics, more methods, more offences they can consider, even stopping and searching somebody who may have something to either lock themselves on or glue themselves to something.”
A JSO activist holds a picture of an imprisoned colleague
Emma Smart was held in prison for her activism with both Insulate Britain and Just Stop Oil.
“The high-vis might be going away,” she tells me, “but we aren’t.”
“These people aren’t going anywhere, we are still committed, dedicated, terrified by the failings of this government and governments around the world.”
JSO activists throw orange paint at van Gogh’s sunflowers
Orange smoke set off by JSO protesters at Stonehenge
She hopes for a time of reflection before it returns in a new form but says the need for climate activism is stronger than ever.
She also believes that while most people dislike JSO tactics, it still raises awareness of the cause and might even push people to more moderate campaign groups.
Just Stop Oil came behind other, similarly controversial climate campaign groups like Insulate Britain and Extinction Rebellion, and as it says goodbye, its disruptive methods have been seized upon by other organisations like the Pro-Palestinian Youth Justice.
The infamous Just Stop Oil orange vests might be going away, but the individual activists, their cause and campaign tactics feel here to stay.
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