Banning laughing gas is a serious matter. The balloon protest treats it as a joke | Zoe Cormier
On Saturday at exactly 3pm, hundreds of people will converge on Parliament Square in London, inhale nitrous oxide, or "laughing gas", collectively giggle for 30 seconds, and then disperse. The Psychedelic Society insists "this is not a party" but a serious act of political dissent. "We'll all inhale together in a sea of coloured rubber to send the message: My mind, my choice."
The "mass inhalation" is in protest against the proposed psychoactive substances bill, which would make possession or supply of any "psychoactive substance" (with the exceptions of nicotine, alcohol and caffeine) punishable by up to seven years in prison. The aim is to crack down on legal highs, which chemists constantly concoct when old favourites are banned. No more "meow meow", "spice", "vanilla sky" or other new chemical substances. The catch-all legislation would also remove well-established legal highs such as nitrous oxide.
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