Orange County Supervisors are moving forward with a new law that bans the sale of nitrous oxide also known as “whippets” or “hippie crack” for drug use in unincorporated parts of the county.
On Tuesday, county officials voted unanimously to introduce the ordinance which makes the sale of the recreational inhalant a misdemeanor punishable by up to six months in jail or up to $1,000 in fines with a few exceptions.
Supervisor Katrina Foley, who requested the ban at the end of last year, said there’s a loophole in state law that allows smoke shops and liquor store employees to sell whippets as long as they don’t ask the buyer if they plan on using it to get high.
“Getting high on nitrous will remain as convenient as picking up a bag of chips, and that’s the truth. While no progress has been made at the state or federal level to close this dangerous loophole, it’s time that the County of Orange take action,” she said at Tuesday’s meeting.
[Read: Orange County Supervisors Look to Ban Whippets]
Foley’s request comes after she conducted a series of panels last year with public health officials, local law enforcement, and state legislators to examine drug use and nitrous oxide – a sedative that can cause nerve damage and psychosis.
“During our October 2024 investigative hearing on substance abuse in Orange County, we heard directly from county health officials, safety professionals and state policy makers about the alarming increase in the use of nitrous oxide,” Foley said.
“It’s very dangerous for human ingestion unless it’s medically supervised. It can suffocate your brain, cause serious neurological harm and even lead to death.”
The ordinance includes exceptions for the sale of nitrous oxide for the use in cars, food products and medical or dental care.
Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer said inhaling nitrous oxide for recreational drug use is already a misdemeanor under state law.
“What this ordinance would do is it would empower your county counsel to enforce administratively in the event that there’s an individual that is distributing it for unlawful purposes,” he said at Tuesday’s meeting.
“We are ready, willing and able to prosecute it as a criminal act if it is made a misdemeanor.”
Hosam Elattar is a Voice of OC reporter and corps member with Report for America, a GroundTruth initiative. Contact him at helattar@voiceofoc.org or on Twitter @ElattarHosam.