Laughing gas crackdown

Laughing gas crackdown

9 May, 2007 | 3.14AM

• Written by: Terry Church
• Filed under: Music News: laughing gas, ocean rooms, turnmills

You may think it’s just a laugh, but a recent media frenzy is forcing authorities across Britain to crackdown on the laughing gas clubbing craze.

Health & Safety as always, is coming first.

Phil Burke spokesman for the Manchester Pub and Club Network, which represents 550 premises in the city said the gas is becoming increasingly popular amongst clubbers up and down the country, because it is cheap (about two quid per baloon) and gives a euphoric short-lived high when inhaled.

As a result the group has issued a warning to licensees and managers: “It is an offence under the Medicines Act to supply the gas for inhalation. The maximum sentence is two years imprisonment and an unlimited fine.”

“A club owner allowing an individual to supply the gas in a nightclub could be prosecuted for aiding and abetting an offence.

“Club owners should take all steps to prevent their premises being used for the inhalation of nitrous oxide.”

Possessing and inhaling laughing gas is not illegal, but supplying the gas for inhalation is.

Turnmills in London, and Brighton’s Ocean Rooms are two high-profile clubs that were openly selling laughing gas for a number of months, before a media frenzy culminating in a Sky News sensationalist undercover film, forced the clubs to top selling it.

“We stopped selling it because it became illegal basically,” Turnmills’ Paul Stix told Beatportal.

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