Salzburg plans to ban nitrous oxide for minors

Salzburg plans to ban minors from using nitrous oxide and prohibit its sale or supply to them, ORF reports. Deputy Governor Marlene Svazek announced the proposed changes to the state’s youth protection law on Saturday.

The amendment is due to be submitted to the Salzburg state parliament next week and could take effect several months later. The state says Salzburg would be the first Austrian state to introduce such a ban.

Svazek warned that nitrous oxide is increasingly being used as a party drug. It is sold in some vending shops, often in brightly coloured cartridges and sometimes alongside balloons for inhaling the gas.

Possible risks include oxygen deprivation, paralysis, loss of consciousness and serious neurological damage, Svazek said. She said Salzburg was acting after repeated appeals to the federal government. In Germany, the sale and possession of nitrous oxide by minors have been banned since April.

The proposed law would also let the state impose sales restrictions more quickly on newly emerging dangerous products. It would create a legal basis for test purchases to check whether businesses comply with youth protection rules, a measure Svazek said was not previously available in Salzburg.

Svazek urged retailers to remove nitrous oxide from their shelves before the ban takes effect. She said strict penalties would apply to violations and that authorities would consider revoking business licences where legally possible.