Nitrous oxide causes UK drug law confusion

Defendants prosecuted for supplying nitrous oxide under the UK’s Psychoactive Substances Act 2016 (PSA) have had the last laugh, after judges ruled the gas exempt from the drug law. Trials in late August in Southwark and Taunton Crown Courts concluded that ‘laughing gas’ qualified as a medicinal product. As the PSA excludes medicinal products, the defendants were acquitted.