Beijing police have solved over 60 drug-related crimes from the beginning of this year until July, with a total of 9.3 kilograms of various types of drugs seized by police. Photo: courtesy of Beijing police.

A man surnamed Xu was sentenced to one year and six months in jail for selling "laughing gas," an illegal psychoactive substance. His parents also received jail terms for helping him with the business.

According to Beijing police, Xu got to know about the laughing gas when he was studying in Canada. After returning to China in 2019 and failing to find a job, he decided to make money through selling the illegal gas as it is difficult to acquire for addicts in China. 

Xu's father joined his business after Xu told him that what he was selling was something similar to wine. Later, his mother also offered to help. Neither of the parents knew it was an illegal business and would lead to severe punishment.

"The laughing gas, also named nitrous oxide, is very harmful to the body after inhalation and is listed as a dangerous chemical. Special approval is required before production, operation and transportation of the gas," said the case's prosecutor surnamed Cai.

Xu's parents were both sentenced to over one year in jail and the family was fined 240,000 yuan ($289,023) in total.

Global Times