Justice Minister Dilan Yesilgöz says the ban will help police “enormously in enforcement”. “With the ban, the police will be able to take immediate action if someone has non-professional laughing gas in their possession and has balloons with gas bottles in their car. Hopefully we can prevent accidents.”
The police are also happy with the ban, but at the same time see that enforcement from that date is not feasible. That says Willem Woelders, drug portfolio holder at the police, in a response. “We are in favor of the ban on laughing gas, because it offers colleagues more tools to act against it. At the moment, this is only possible in the municipalities that have made laughing gas a criminal offense in the general local regulation,” says Woelders.
At the same time, “some water still has to pass through the sea” before the police can enforce, says Woelders. According to him, this will not be possible as of 1 January, because too much still needs to be arranged. According to him, research is currently being done into how laughing gas can be detected in breathing air. And a solution must be found for the transport and destruction of confiscated nitrous oxide.
Woelders: “We try to follow existing procedures for seized drugs as much as possible, but we do face a challenge. Laughing gas is the first gaseous drug. It is a dangerous substance that affects the ozone layer; it is a greenhouse gas. That also means that we have to be keen on creating safe working conditions.” The police are working on a national plan to implement the ban.