The ‘toughest anti-nang laws in the country’ only work if you enforce them

On the day then-health minister Amber-Jade Sanderson proclaimed a ban on “nangs” last October, I walked into a convenience store and bought the illegal nitrous oxide gas canisters — no questions, no ID, no proof of purchase, no problem.

Day one of the new regulations, fair enough, give them time, despite a promise to “enforce compliance from today”, having long sounded a warning the ban was coming.

Nangs remain easy to buy, even with WA having the “toughest laws in the country”.Credit: 9News Perth

That was seven months ago. But this week, I walked into that same convenience store and tested their compliance as part of a 9News Perth investigation.

Once again, no questions, no problems. Ten nangs for $10.

Tobacconists and retailers in the Perth CBD and Northbridge are flagrantly flouting the law. And why wouldn’t they, when the state government is not policing what it touted as the “toughest laws in the country”.

9News Perth and WAtoday revealed this week that not a single fine has been issued by the Department of Health for the sale of nangs.

It is difficult to believe, when any teenager — or at least anyone with a working debit card — can buy the popular and potentially deadly party gas in the ubiquitous corner stores or even online, delivered to your door in under 30 minutes, just like Uber Eats.

Nangs give users a high when they inhale the gas. And they are popular; an ED doctor even told me during my investigation that he had used nangs.

They can also cause seizures, heart attacks, psychosis, or irreversible neurological damage — like  the case of Perth teenager Molly Day, who paid the price for the cheap thrill.

Molly’s mother said she felt betrayed by the state government’s lack of enforcement, given what her family when through.

“I am so disappointed after we pushed so hard to have these laws put in place,” Nicky Day told 9News Perth.

Molly is doing well now, following two years of intensive rehabilitation, but is still not 100 per cent healthy.

The state went big on announcing its ban on nangs — illegal to sell, but not to buy — with suppliers facing fines of up to $30,000.

“We want to protect children and young people from the dangers of nangs, which can cause permanent brain and spinal cord damage,” Sanderson said at the time.

She is no longer the health minister, and therefore not in charge of the Department of Health’s compliance. That responsibility now falls on Meredith Hammat.

The minister declined an interview with 9News Perth. So did the Department of Health, despite a number of requests.

They both said the same thing, that “the Department is enforcing [the laws] through a dedicated compliance team”.

But it is obviously not. Only a small number of warnings have been issued during 66 site inspections — warnings that are not curtailing corner stores. None of those loudly vaunted fines.

This same feeble enforcement plagues the sale of vapes. Opposition health spokeswoman Libby Mettam said time and again Labor’s laws “aren’t worth the paper they’re written on”.

Former nang abusers who helped bring in the ban, their parents, doctors, emergency nurses, the Australian Medical Association, and the opposition are all calling for the government to start delivering its promise.

But at the moment, that promise is being neglected.

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