Wyre Forest MP wants stricter nitrous oxide controls

Mark Garnier said he wanted "answers from ministers about how we can try and stop this scourge"

An MP has called for new measures to control the sale of nitrous oxide.

Mark Garnier, who represents the Wyre Forest in Worcestershire, said abuse of the substance, also known as laughing gas, could "ruin people's lives".

But despite this, he said it was freely available for sale on the internet, because it has legitimate uses in the medical and catering sectors.

He said the government needed to do more to identify those selling it for illegitimate uses.

Speaking in a parliamentary debate on Wednesday, he said use of nitrous oxide had "increased markedly" since the first coronavirus lockdown.

He said it had become the second most commonly used drug behind cannabis for 16 to 24-year-olds.

Abuse of the substance could cause numbness and pins and needles at first, but eventually it could lead to users being unable to speak properly or use their limbs, he said.

Nitrous oxide can have serious effects on users

Mr Garnier accepted "there are some people who have it for perfectly legitimate uses" and that it was not illegal to own it.

But he said some were making "an awful lot of money and potentially destroying people's lives".

"What we have to do is work out a way that we can intervene on these sellers," he said.

In 2021, Priti Patel, the Home Secretary at the time, asked the independent Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) to review the harm caused by nitrous oxide.

As part of the review, the ACMD was also asked to consider whether unlawful possession of nitrous oxide should be made an offence.