A councillor is calling for a government review of laughing gas laws to encourage people to seek medical help when they need it but also cut down on the litter plaguing our streets.

It is more than 15 months since nitrous oxide was made a Class C drug, controlled under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971. This made possession where a person intends to inhale it for psychoactive effect an offence.

Despite the new law, empty nitrous oxide canisters remain a frequent sight across Maidstone and are routinely dumped on roadsides and at local green spaces.

The gas has several legitimate uses including as a painkiller in dentistry and childbirth, and in the kitchen for aerating sauces, batters and whipped cream.

But it is also often inhaled for its euphoric effects.

It is known as laughing gas because users are prone initially to fits of laughter, though later they can suffer headaches and experience paranoia. Frequent use causes a vitamin deficiency.

Cllr Tony Harwood (Lib Dem) regularly comes across empty containers on his litter-picks around the town.

He said: “The only noticeable difference that the law had made is that instead of the ubiquitous, small 8g capacity, silver canisters that used to be found, these have now been almost entirely supplanted by significantly larger 640g cylinders.

“This unintended consequence of the ban is likely increasing health risks for users and the threat to public safety from drug-driving and recklessly discarded cylinders.”

Last weekend, he found eight large canisters discarded along the banks of the River Len and in Fant and Penenden Heath.

Each cylinder contains 80 times the quantity of nitrous oxide found in the smaller cylinders.

Cllr Harwood said: “Recreational use of nitrous oxide dates back as far as the late 18th century, soon after its discovery by Joseph Priestly in 1772.

“However, sustained use of nitrous oxide inactivates vitamin B12, resulting in a functional deficiency and causing numbness in the fingers, which may progress to more serious and long-lasting nerve damage.

“Furthermore, the cognitive impairment that results from recreational use of this gas raises significant concerns around the dangers of drug driving under its influence.”

“But,” said Cllr Harwood, “if individuals know that there may be at risk of a prosecution and criminal record, they may delay presenting to a GP or hospital at a time when their symptoms could be treated and reversed.”

He suggested a better route might have been to follow the Netherlands in banning the sale of nitrous oxide rather than its use.

He said: “The Dutch took that approach so as not to discourage individuals from seeking medical help should they experience health issues.

“I have written to the Minister of State for Policing requesting a review of current nitrous oxide legislation.

“Perhaps what we need is stricter regulation of online marketing and sale, and greater policy focus on warning and informing around public health impacts of recreational use of nitrous oxide.”

In the meantime, he said there needed to be a return-and-reuse scheme for the cylinders to reduce the unsightly and potentially hazardous littering of canisters around the borough.