Criminalising misuse of nitrous oxide is unlikely to benefit the public

Criminalising misuse of nitrous oxide creates another entity to be policed.1 This comes at a time when London’s Metropolitan Police force has announced, with almost no notice, that they will no longer be attending mental health emergencies.2 This will increase risk of harm to mental health professionals, add even more burden to under-resourced mental health services, increase health inequalities, and leave those who are most vulnerable in society at more risk. Furthermore, police are the only professionals with the ability to use Section 136 of the Mental Health Act to convey a mentally ill person from a public place to a place of safety.The harms of occasional nitrous oxide misuse seem minimal in comparison to the harms of London’s overstretched police force avoiding mental health emergencies. Surely criminalising and policing young people misusing nitrous oxide is a less important use of vital resources. Multiple decisions are being made that are…
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