The Psychoactive Substances Act 2016 (2016 Act) bans the sale, supply, production and distribution of psychoactive substances, such as nitrous oxide, for human consumption<\/p>
The Crown Prosecution Service continues to prosecute cases involving nitrous oxide under the 2016 Act successfully. The Government continue to work closely with the CPS, law enforcement and scientific experts to ensure that prosecutions of cases under the 2016 Act are supported by the best available evidence.<\/p>
Since the 2016 Act came into force, over 300 retailers across the United Kingdom have either closed down or are no longer selling psychoactive substances and action by the National Crime Agency has resulted in the removal of psychoactive substances being sold by UK based websites. In 2016, there were 28 convictions in England and Wales and seven people jailed under the new powers. This rose to 152 convictions in 2017 with 62 people immediately sent to custody.<\/p>"} , "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4399", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Victoria Atkins"} } , "answeringMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Louth and Horncastle"} , "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Victoria Atkins"} , "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2018-11-05", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2018-11-05T17:35:11.793Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} ]} , "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "1"} , "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Home Office"} , "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Home Office"} , "date" : {"_value" : "2018-10-30", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "Nitrous Oxide: Sales"} , "houseId" : {"_value" : "1"} , "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25259", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Commons"} } ], "questionText" : "To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of the legal framework governing the sale of nitrous oxide for the protection of public health and safety.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4621", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Darren Jones"} } , "tablingMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Bristol North West"} , "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Darren Jones"} ], "uin" : "185736"} , {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/62953", "AnsweringBody" : [{"_value" : "Home Office"} ], "answer" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/62953/answer", "answerText" : {"_value" : "
<\/p>
The Government has no plans to review the definition of butane in the Cigarette
Lighter Refill (Safety) Regulations 1999.
We recently wrote to all summer festival organisers to highlight concerns we
have about the availability of gases such as nitrous oxide at festivals and
asked them to take steps to prevent the sale of these gases. We have received a
number of positive responses to this request.
Nitrous oxide has a number of legitimate medical and industrial uses, but any
suggestion of misuse, particularly by young people is of concern. It is
currently an offence to sell any gas for the purpose of causing intoxication to
anyone under the age of 18, including over the internet, under the Intoxicating
Substances (Supply) Act 1985.<\/p>
<\/p>"} , "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/28", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Norman Baker"} } , "answeringMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Lewes"} , "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Norman Baker"} , "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2014-06-30", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "groupedQuestionUIN" : {"_value" : "201478"} , "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2014-06-30T16:17:18.4466167Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} ]} , "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "1"} , "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Home Office"} , "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Home Office"} , "date" : {"_value" : "2014-06-19", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "Nitrous Oxide: Sales"} , "houseId" : {"_value" : "1"} , "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25259", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Commons"} } ], "questionText" : "To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what actions she is taking to restrict sales of nitrous oxide (a) at festivals and nightclubs and (b) through the internet.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/533", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Lord Hanson of Flint"} } , "tablingMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Delyn"} , "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Mr David Hanson"} ], "uin" : "201545"} ], "itemsPerPage" : 10, "page" : 0, "startIndex" : 1, "totalResults" : 2, "type" : ["http://purl.org/linked-data/api/vocab#ListEndpoint", "http://purl.org/linked-data/api/vocab#Page"]} }