header-logo header-logo

NLJ this week: Risks of too heavy a response to laughing gas

28 April 2023
Issue: 8022 / Categories: Legal News , Criminal
printer mail-detail
120629
Discarded nitrous oxide (laughing gas) canisters are a familiar sight in towns and cities across the UK, but should the law on their use be changed? 

Dr Michael Harrison and Dr Olubunmi Onafuwa, both of the University of East London, debate the issues in this week’s NLJ.

While commonly used in medical scenarios, excessive recreational use or use with certain other drugs can be dangerous or even fatal. The UK government is now considering making possession a criminal offence. A step too far?

Harrison and Onafuwa look at the risks of such an approach, and wonder whether an alternative approach might be more effective in curbing recreational use of the drug. 

Read more on the laughing gas issue here.

Issue: 8022 / Categories: Legal News , Criminal
printer mail-details

MOVERS & SHAKERS

DWF—19 appointments

DWF—19 appointments

Belfast team bolstered by three senior hires and 16 further appointments

Cadwalader—Andro Atlaga

Cadwalader—Andro Atlaga

Firm strengthens leveraged finance team with London partner hire

Knights—Ella Dodgson & Rebecca Laffan

Knights—Ella Dodgson & Rebecca Laffan

Double hire marks launch of family team in Leeds

NEWS
In this week's NLJ, Steven Ball of Red Lion Chambers unpacks how advances in forensic science finally unmasked Ryland Headley, jailed in 2025 for the 1967 rape and murder of 75-year-old Louisa Dunne. Preserved swabs and palm prints lay dormant for decades until DNA-17 profiling produced a billion-to-one match
Charlie Mercer and Astrid Gillam of Stewarts crunch the numbers on civil fraud claims in the English courts, in this week's NLJ. New data shows civil fraud claims rising steadily since 2014, with the King’s Bench Division overtaking the Commercial Court as the forum of choice for lower-value disputes
Bea Rossetto of the National Pro Bono Centre makes the case for ‘General Practice Pro Bono’—using core legal skills to deliver life-changing support, without the need for niche expertise—in this week's NLJ
Charles Pigott of Mills & Reeve reports on Haynes v Thomson, the first judicial application of the Supreme Court’s For Women Scotland ruling in a discrimination claim, in this week's NLJ
The Supreme Court issued a landmark judgment in July that overturned the convictions of Tom Hayes and Carlo Palombo, once poster boys of the Libor and Euribor scandal. In NLJ this week, Neil Swift of Peters & Peters considers what the ruling means for financial law enforcement
back-to-top-scroll