Is nitrous oxide legal or illegal?

Whether nitrous oxide is legal to buy, use or sell?

Is laughing gas legal? This is something many people wonder. Until recently, nitrous oxide was not officially legal to sell because it fell under the drug list. And everything on the drug list is very strictly monitored and a lot of legislation applies. But the fact that laughing gas is on that list has changed since July 2016. By a decision of the European Court nitrous oxide has been subject to the Commodities Act since July. Read more here . That is the law that applies to everything that can be sold as ‘goods’ and that is independent of the associated health that certain uses can cause. In concrete terms, this means that the product nitrous oxide is now treated like any other product in the shops. This means that the sale of laughing gas has been officially legal since July 2016! Buying nitrous oxide, actually whipped cream cartridges, has always been legal. Because research has shown that laughing gas not harmful is therefore not necessary to intervene.

Can everyone buy laughing gas?

The new legislation with which laughing gas has now come under the Commodities Act means that everyone in the Netherlands can simply buy the product. There are also no age rules, so if you are younger than 16, or younger than 18, that has no influence on whether or not you can buy laughing gas. So also young people. However, a retailer is always free not to allow the purchase in the event of a suspicious situation, but that remains the retailer’s own responsibility. A whipped cream syringe needs whipped cream cartridges to function, and everyone should know for themselves what people do with their purchased product. This is less worrisome now that the research has shown that laughing gas has proven to be harmless. In short, where buying whipped cream cartridges has long been legal, the sale of nitrous oxide is now also legal, by which we mean whipped cream cartridges injected into a balloon, completely legal.