The Director of the Sofia Regional Health Inspectorate (RHI), Dancho Penchev, referred to gaps in the Health Act regarding the spread of laughing gas. He noted that this hinders the control of the regional health authorities. Penchev spoke before the Temporary Commission for the Establishment of Existing Problems with the Distribution of Nitrous Oxide (Laughing Gas), Narcotics, Precursors or Their Analogues in Bulgaria.
At the moment, the inspections are not leading to the desired results, as many of the people who are caught in the act of possessing a vial take advantage of the lack of a ban and refer to personal use, he pointed out.
"The law only affects the sale and use of laughing gas, and not the storage and possession, which greatly complicates the effectiveness of the control we carry out," Penchev said. According to him, the only way for the health control authorities, together with the SDVR authorities, to establish a violation is to catch it at the moment of use.
The director of the Sofia RHI proposed that the Health Act also prohibit the possession of nitrous oxide in open and closed public places, and that fines for possession of laughing gas be provided for from 3,000 to 5,000 leva, and in case of a repeated violation - from 5,000 to 10,000 leva.
Penchev requested that Regulation 9 on state health control allow the RHI to carry out the activity of “mystery shopper”. If we follow the methodology by which we must conduct an inspection in a nightclub, we must first introduce ourselves, he pointed out. According to him, this leads to compromising the entire inspection.
"Over the past two years, 2,969 inspections have been carried out, of which 169 were based on reports. Unfortunately, the facts show that only 20 reports have been drawn up", said Penchev. Commercial establishments, educational institutions, online stores, platforms and, above all, nightclubs are being inspected.