Police in Shacklewell have launched a crackdown on the sale of laughing gas, deploying up to eight officers in unmarked cars to break up groups of night-time users.
The drug is linked to anti-social behaviour, police say, with “big groups of young people” standing on street corners inhaling the gas on weekend evenings, sometimes into the early hours of the morning.
Shacklewell’s Safer Neighbourhoods Team – a local community policing group – has identified Millers Terrace and Truman’s Road as the ward’s two main laughing gas hotspots.
The sale of laughing gas – formally known as nitrous oxide – was banned by the government in May, although the drug remains legal to possess and use.
The substance, used as pain relief in dentistry and childbirth, is usually sold in small silver canisters and inhaled through balloons, giving users a light-headed sensation.
Can any one tell me what this cylinders are laying in the street . I have seen clusters of these before pic.twitter.com/cXckPpMHuJ
— Lord Sugar (@Lord_Sugar) August 10, 2016
Under new police policy, officers will use dispersal orders and even arrests to tackle anti-social behaviour associated with the drug.
Drug reform charity Transform suggested that arrests and dispersal orders could be “heavy-handed”.
Danny Kushlick, Head of External Affairs at the charity, told the Hackney Post: “If I were one of the police officers, I’d have a word [with the drug users], ask them to move out of residential areas. Arrests and dispersal orders sound heavy-handed to me.”
Kushlick continued: “Only a significant level of anti-social behaviour would warrant that use of police force.
“If the drug is being used at a quiet dinner party with wine, it’s not particularly anti-social. If it’s 50 young people doing it along with Jagerbombs, there’s clearly potential for anti-social behaviour.”
I won’t be doing this again and hope that no one else is influenced into putting their health at risk by my actions.
— Kyle Walker (@kylewalker2) September 8, 2013
Kushlick added: “At a time when police officers are stretched under austerity, it really is important that get their priorities right. And people concerned about police priorities absolutely should be scrutinising these actions.”
Laughing gas is generally considered to be relatively safe to use, although a 2015 study by D r Paul Seddon found that 17 deaths were linked to the use of laughing gas between 2006 and 2012.
Featured image: https://www.flickr.com/photos/promocymru/18957230975. License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/
