Ministers could be planning to ban the sale and possession of laughing gas – in a major crackdown on antisocial behaviour.

You’ll likely have recognise the little silver canisters littered around streets, especially outside nightclubs.

Laughing gas, also known as nitrous oxide, has become popular with young people in recent years.

In medical settings the drug can be used for pain relief, anaesthetic and to relieve anxiety.

But laughing gas is also used recreationally.

More than half a million young people used the drug between 2019-2020, according to the Crime Survey for England and Wales.

That makes it the second most used drug by 16-24 year olds in the UK.

Under Government proposals, drug misuse laws could soon be updated to allow people found with nitrous oxide gas in public to be prosecuted.

The Times reports that under the changes, only those with a ‘legitimate reason’ would be exempt. Examples given include chefs, who use it for whipped cream or freezing and chilling food.

The substance can also be used as pain relief during dental treatment or childbirth.

Current legislation bans the knowing or reckless supply of nitrous oxide for inhalation but there have been calls for a ban on all direct consumer sales as part of a tightening up of the law on the commonly used drug.

One young woman previously told Metro.co.uk that she was no longer able to walk, eat or wash herself after spending years regularly taking laughing gas.

Kerry Donaldson, 25, started inhaling nitrous oxide in 2017, when she and her friends would take it casually on weekends as a ‘social thing’.

‘Everybody was doing it,’ she said.

Kerry, from Newham, east London, eventually started losing feeling in her hands and legs and was taken to hospital multiple times.

Policing minister Chris Philp is reportedly pushing for an ongoing review of nitrous oxide by the independent Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs to be fast-tracked to April.

There have been suggestions that a formal announcement on a ban could be made as part of the Government’s antisocial behaviour strategy due later this year.

The Prime Minister addressed the issue in his new year’s speech earlier this month, hitting out at antisocial behaviour and highlighting the blight of discarded ‘nitrous oxide canisters in children’s playgrounds’.

The Home Office has been approached for comment by PA on the reported changes.

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