19/01/2017 Look North (Yorkshire)

Good evening and welcome to the late Look North.

Tonight, the shockingly easy trade in illegal drugs in Yorkshire -

we go undercover to see how easy it is to buy laughing gas

And the owner of Castle Howard tells us about his fears over fracking

as protesters set up camp in Ryedale.

The quiet weather looks set to continue over the next few days.

I'll be back later with all the details.

An undercover investigation by Look North has found that one

of the country's most popular illegal drugs is available to buy

Students at Leeds University say getting hold of nitrous oxide -

known as laughing gas - is as easy as ordering a taxi.

It's led to 17 deaths over a six year period and was made

Ali Fortescue has this exclusive report.

A dangerous and popular craze, inhaling nitrous oxide

through balloons for a 20-second high, said by some to be as intense

This is a drug more common here in the UK than anywhere else.

We've set out to find out how dealers are illegally selling

in Leeds and targeting young people on social media.

Cool, do you think in about an hour would be all right?

What interests me is that they said they were going to send one

of their drivers to me so clearly they've got more than one driver,

It'll be interesting to see if they actually turn up now.

And here's what we're responding to - Facebook adverts plainly

selling laughing gas and offering special deals.

We arrange to meet the dealer in Woodhouse,

Eventually a car pulls up with two men inside it.

I've never actually done it before, what does it do?

If we want some more later, mate, can we get some more?

What amazes me most about this is just how easy it is to find.

I mean, they have really gone to no effort to disguise

All I have to do is type a couple of keywords into Google...

And there you go, one click and I'm into their Facebook page and one

phone call and I can order illegal drugs to my doorstep.

So we found one site selling laughing gas but is it

Well, according to Leeds University students, yes, it is.

Every time you go out, if you go to a house

It's a lot harder now to get it but definitely at house

parties it's everywhere, after parties, everywhere.

If I'm going to be honest, I see it on every street,

on the pavements, in hedges, in gardens, you know.

Laughing gas? Yeah, laughing gas.

It's true that nitrous oxide isn't the most dangerous drug around.

It's still used by dentists and by doctors to help women

in labour and it's also the gas in whipped cream canisters.

But in an uncontrolled environment it can kill.

When you breathe in nitrous oxide, it's absorbed really quickly

into the body and it goes straight to the brain and it can

cause unconsciousness within 30 to 45 seconds.

The unconscious human being is at risk and if there

are not people around to support their airways,

support their breathing, you can die as a result of unconsciousness.

The risks are clear but illegal or not, this is a drug that's easy

to find and a trend that doesn't seem to be going anywhere.

And it was very easy for you to get hold of this but what has happened

since filming? Since our investigation, police searched and

address and found what was a huge amount of laughing gas, nearly 5000

canisters and 7200 balloons and they arrested two men in their 20s and

suspicion of possessing nitrous oxide with intent to supply. That

Facebook page has also been taken down and Facebook are investigating.

It's a hugely significant, these arrests, and it is the first time

anyone and Leeds has been arrested under this new law and West

Yorkshire police told us today that they have the dealing with his into

place in May. We have dedicated police officers working closely with

the University 's to try and disrupt anyone trying to get this supply to

them. We're trying to educate people died to know what harm is coming to

them by taking these things. This is still a very controversial law.

People say the risks aren't as bad as many other drugs as you saw in my

piece, when I asked if I could have piece, when I asked if I could have

harder class a drugs, the dealer said yesterday tipped me with that

and it is perfectly safe finding really concerning that this drug is

leading people to harder drugs. The latest crime statistics

have been released. They show North Yorkshire

has the lowest levels Between September 2015 and 2016

there were 96 recorded crimes That's a 22% increase -

compared to an average 9% rise West Yorkshire Police say improved

crime recording practises make their figures look

disproportionally high, and that the real crime

rise within the county A man has pleaded guilty

to injuring a petrol station attendant in a hit-and-run

incident in Barnsley. Scott Dearing drove

into Michelle Carr as he tried She was bruised but

not seriously hurt. Dearing will be

sentenced next month. The owner of one of Yorkshire's

largest tourist attractions has spoken exclusively to Look North

saying he's worried about the negative impact fracking

could have on tourism. Nicholas Howard from Castle Howard

near Malton says it's taken a long time to change perceptions

about the county and fears people could now think

twice about visiting. Our business correspondent

Danni Hewson reports. Very nice to meet you.

We're actually from the Isle Of Man. Places like Castle Howard are

the reason people come to Yorkshire. Last summer record numbers

flocked to the region but here there is a growing concern

that plans to frack for gas could have a detrimental impact

on the tourist economy. There is the traffic movement,

there is the water quality, there is the whole business

of the air quality and the perceived effect, even if it's not as great

as we expect it might be, While Ryedale is known as one

of the most beautiful places in the country,

people will flock to it, but if it's known as a place

with endless with endless gas fields, that is hardly a choice

for a holiday. At the moment, only one site

in the region has planning permission to carry out

the controversial drilling technique but it is thought shale gas

is located under much of Yorkshire. The industry insists existing

conventional gas sites have had little impact on tourism,

and going forward disruption There has been a lot of protester

activity and a lot of noise made around our industry but I think that

gives us a responsibility to show to people that we can produce this

in a sensitive way that doesn't have too much of an impact on local

people and it is up to us At the moment much of the noise

referred to is coming This one is directly on the route

of this year's Tour de Yorkshire. But protesters say they wouldn't be

here if the industry wasn't. For the organisation responsible

for selling the region's image, Every day, regionally,

nationally, internationally, we face major challenges,

but Welcome To Yorkshire, we are the brand guardians

for the Yorkshire brand and we will work hard or even harder

to make sure that that Tourism has always been a massive

part of Yorkshire's economy but since the Tour de France,

things have really picked up and no one wants to see

that progress back-pedal. Earlier on Paul Davies a detailed

weather forecast for Barnsley sites were one for the rest of Yorkshire.

A lot of cloud for the next few days but it will be mostly dry and some

parts of Yorkshire will brighten up through tomorrow afternoon. Annesley

is one of the places that mate later on. High pressure dominates and a

lot of settled weather to come but this weather front which is very

weak is underneath the high producing a lot of cloud and a

little dampness but high-pressure visit to continue to dominate the

weather through much of next week. Things will cool down over the

weekend so the increased risk of frost at frost free tonight because

of the cloud using a little drizzle and hill fog and maybe some fog and

mist of rule lying areas and temperatures dropping back to around

four or 5 degrees. Tomorrow a great start to the day and a lot of cloud

with a little bit of dampness through the morning from the week

front but a slight improvement through the day across parts of

South Yorkshire where some sunshine could spread up and some broken

cloud across South Yorkshire through the afternoon and the rest will have

to wait until the evening to see the cloud breaks with temperatures

getting up to around 7 degrees. Enter Saturday there will be some

bricks and the cloud allowing Apache mist and fog and some patchy frost

and starting off a defender at the cloud thickening from the east and

for Sunday. looks as though we can, a bit more

cloud on Sunday. Now the national