High Society — Season 1, Episode 1: Inside the Laughing Gas Black Market
30 min • 1 season, 7 episodes
Episode synopsis
British people use Nitrous oxide more than any other country in the world, and it recently became the second-most popular drug in the UK. The media became obsessed with the drug after a handful of deaths associated with it – often over-inflating its dangers. The government’s response has been to include it in the Psychoactive Substances Act. This is a law that came about in response to the popularity of legal highs, putting a ban on the sale of anything that can change your mental state (except alcohol, cigarettes, and coffee). Now, selling nitrous carries a sentence of up to seven years. We set out to discover what happens when you ban a substance overnight, and how dealers will continue to supply Britain with its best-loved gas.
About High Society
Newsnight, for the drug culture. We've travelled to raves, festivals and trap houses across the continent to find out why drugs have never been stronger or more popular in Europe.