Was Laughing Gas London's Summer Seasonal Fad Drug of Choice?

A Home Office report claims that nitrous oxide is the second most popular recreational drug for 16-24 year olds in a national 2013/2014 crime survey.

The increased recreational use of the legal drug nitrous oxide this summer in London is undeniable. With most London festivals banning laughing gas on their grounds, particularly in east and south London, but in Finsbury Park, events like Wireless, and the FA cup weekend, saw it shift conspicuously from the streets of East to North. With Summer and it’s following festivities around the corner, will this summer be any different from the last?

Nitrous oxide which is intended for the use in catering to keep food remaining fresh, in engines power output, and in medical anaesthesia, has reappeared and been abused as a substance for a brief, and potentially lethal, high. The depressant drug carries dangers with it, and are completely disregarded. The independent government funded drugs advice service FRANK says it slows down your body’s responses, can potentially suffocate you, and leave you brain damaged. Mix these with alcohol or other recreational drugs, and you are most definitely putting yourself in a risky situation. A Home Office report from the University of London discovered between 2006-2012, 17 deaths have occurred from misuse. Victims claimed are, 17 year old Joseph Benett, 23 year old Daniel Watts, and most recently this February, 21 year old Jordan Guise. 

Outside a popular Dalston nightclub on a cold October Saturday night, I approach a young man. Before I introduce myself for a potential interview, I’ am greeted with that familiar whooshing sound in my ear of a balloon being filled with air. It’s followed with a pinging noise as a piece of metal hits the ground at my feet. “Ballooon miss?

A 23 year old anonymous Dalston male vendor, who knew Joseph Benett, says he has been trading the “unlucky” product for the past two years, offering his advice,”don’t do balloons if you don’t know how to use it”. But, what is being done to stop these deaths? Lawfully, not much. Worrying advice from a FRANK representative said “there is not enough advertising on the dangers of it because it is not the drug that carries the most harm”. 

This July, Hackney Council reported the Metropolitan Police confiscated 1,200 of the little canisters on a singular Saturday night in Shoreditch. Nobody was charged. Nitrous oxide is easily and legally purchased online, meaning there are no drug enforcement laws on it. Hackney Council has adopted a method to punish venders of the gas by unauthorised street trading laws, and imposing fines under the Local Authority Act. In comparison, a not so inspiring neighbouring borough, Islington, can only provide information on discarded canisters, and says it “takes littering very seriously”.