Could a UK laughing gas ban cause more harm than good? - BBC Newsnight
Newsnight has been told by leading clinicians across health trusts in the UK that they are seeing a sharp increase in nitrous oxide users under 25 with serious health issues.
Nitrous oxide is often known as laughing gas or ‘nos’, and the legalities around its use are complex.
It is currently placed within the Psychoactive Drug Act 2016, which stipulates that it is illegal to supply the drug for recreational purposes, but possession is not illegal.
However the Prime minister is committed to banning the substance as a class C drug by the end of the year, which will make possession a crime.
Now medical professionals have written to the Policing minister Chris Philp saying that making possession of the drug illegal was "unlikely to translate to health benefits in our patients," and that “fear of arrest could increase harm” as people may delay coming to hospital.
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Is India cracking down on journalism in Kashmir? - BBC News
India’s supreme court is currently hearing an important case about the legality of the revocation of Indian-administered Kashmir’s special status in 2019.
Since the change which gave the Indian national government political control of Kashmir, journalists allege the administration is carrying out a systematic and sinister campaign of arrests and intimidation aimed at silencing the press in the region.
The BBC has spoken to more than two dozen journalists for this investigation. The Indian government says there is absolute press freedom in Kashmir. Our South Asia correspondent Yogita Limaye reports from Srinagar.
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