Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of bringing forward legislative proposals to make the (a) possession and (b) recreational use of nitrous oxide an offence.

No assessment has been made of the merits of making possession or use of nitrous oxide an offence. The Government takes seriously the harms relating to psychoactive substances such as nitrous oxide and it will continue to keep this issue under review and to consider any new or emerging evidence.

The supply of substances for their psychoactive effect is an offence. There are legitimate uses for nitrous oxide, such as in medicine, dentistry and as a propellant for whipped cream canisters, but those who supply nitrous oxide who know, or who are reckless as to whether, it will be used for its psychoactive effect may be subject to a maximum sentence of seven years’ imprisonment, an unlimited fine, or both under the Psychoactive Substances Act 2016.