Fines of up to 3,000 euros for taking laughing gas in the street in Ibiza

Sant Antoni presented a campaign on Wednesday to raise awareness among visitors about behaviour that causes tension in coexistence with residents and can lead to substantial fines. The initiative, funded through the Sustainable Tourism Tax, is accompanied by new additions to the Local Police and to the team of officers dealing with illegal activity and coexistence, as well as a threefold increase in the number of surveillance cameras.

The mayor, Marcos Serra, and the councillor for Governance, Neus Mateu, highlighted that this campaign, focused on coexistence and responsible tourism, has been launched with “positive” measures to raise awareness and draw attention to municipal ordinances in hotels, shops and hospitality establishments in the town. To do so, they have the support of business associations and sector organisations, which will help distribute 10,000 postcards listing the behaviours the council wants to eradicate from public spaces: street drinking, taking nitrous oxide, urinating, going shirtless outside bathing areas, buying from street vendors, using illegal taxis and making excessive noise.

All these forms of antisocial behaviour carry fines ranging from 500 euros for street vending to 600 euros for using illegal transport and 750 euros for the remaining bans, although getting high on laughing gas in the street can be punished with fines starting at 750 euros and reaching up to 3,000 euros.

Appeal to the State

Mateu stressed that the focus is now also being placed on offenders themselves, in order to curb demand, both in the case of street drinking and nitrous oxide. However, she also admitted that, in the case of foreign visitors, “it will be difficult for them to pay the fine and it will have little practical effect”. “It is not like when we fine a tourist for a traffic offence and we can remove their vehicle”, she said resignedly.

Even so, Mateu insisted that efforts will be stepped up to pursue the sale and use of laughing gas in public spaces, which has become “the worst thing we have in Sant Antoni”. “It is doing us a lot of damage”, she admitted, while calling for a change in national legislation to combat the phenomenon effectively.

Mateu recalled that, through the Local Security Board, the Government delegate, Alfonso Rodríguez, has been asked for cooperation so that this substance, which is used as a sedative in dentistry and even in soda siphons, can be classified as a narcotic. So far, there has been no response. “We will keep on top of them [the sellers], even if there is no change in national regulations, and we will keep arresting them even if they are back on the street within 48 hours”, she said.

To ensure the postcards catch tourists’ attention, the front features one of four iconic images of Sant Antoni: the sunset, an aerial view of the bay, Cala Saladeta and a colla of ball pagès in Okuda’s mural. On the back are the seven prohibitions included in the coexistence rules, along with the corresponding fines, in both English and Spanish.

As well as being distributed among businesses in the town, the campaign will also involve the British Consulate, which will include all these recommendations on its travel advice webpages.

Security reinforcements

This awareness campaign aimed at visitors is funded through the 3.4 million euros a year that, since 2025, Sant Antoni has received as a municipality affected by the Balearic Government’s Responsible Tourism Decree, which also includes Palma, Calvià and Llucmajor. Through this extraordinary injection of funding, Sant Antoni is also increasing its Local Police workforce from 59 to 69 officers.

For now, the new officers are still in training, but from June to August they will begin patrolling the streets during their practical training period, according to the mayor. In addition, the number of officers dealing with illegal activity and coexistence will rise from four to eight. This body was created precisely to enforce municipal ordinances and has the authority to draw up reports in the event of an infringement. It should be noted that this new unit, created last year, was designed to have 12 posts, but these have not been fully filled in either of the two recruitment rounds.

Another of the most ambitious measures under the Responsible Tourism Decree is the installation of surveillance cameras, which will rise from the current 40 to 119. This system makes it possible to monitor vehicles through number plate readers, control the busiest or most problematic points in the urban centre and identify places where uncontrolled waste is dumped.

Finally, the Town Hall is also hiring more private security to patrol public buildings in Sant Antoni, with a total of six guards compared with two last season.