[4] The Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs also told the Government that alkyl nitrites (poppers) were not covered by the law as they were not considered psychoactive, as they affected the muscles and not the central nervous system.

Barrister Matthew Scott described the act as an attempt to "ban pleasure", saying it could drastically overreach by banning areca nuts, nutmegs, nicotine and tobacco products, caffeine products (including naturally caffeinated chocolate, tea, and coffee), nitrous oxide, poppers (alkyl nitrites), additives used in vaporisers and electronic cigarettes, CBD products, alcoholic beverages, hops-containing pillows, and the sale of toads and salamanders that naturally produce psychoactive substances like bufo alvarius.

[10] The government's own Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) said the law was unworkable as "the psychoactivity of a substance cannot be unequivocally proven", and that it would potentially impede scientific progress by restricting medical research.

[14] Drugs reformer and founder of the Beckley Foundation, Amanda Feilding, claimed the act is bad legislation and a mistake for multiple reasons.

She criticised the act for pushing the market underground, meaning users and addicts will have to resort to purchasing from criminals.