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Laughing gas is no laughing matter, at least not for the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors.
The board last week introduced the ordinance, which would ban the sale and distribution of nitrous oxide, informally known as laughing gas, or whippets. San Mateo could be one of the first counties in California to do so.
The ordinance, which would take effect 30 days after passing, is intended to curb youth misuse of the substance, which county officials say has increased compared to several years ago. The scope of the ban is limited to the unincorporated parts of San Mateo County, though the board hopes the remaining 20 cities in the county will follow suit.
If passed, offenders would face a fine of $1,000 or up to six months in county jail.
Often used in medical settings as a short-term sedative, such as at the dentist, nitrous oxide has been repurposed by as a recreational drug. The San Mateo County Youth Commission attributes this to its easy access to local smoke shops, though over-the-counter cans of whipped cream also carry the propellant.
The president of the Board of Supervisors, David Canepa, ordinance, with Supervisor Ray Mueller cosponsoring it.
“We’re losing too many lives, too young,” Mueller said in a press release. “Overdoses are taking lives in our community, and we cannot afford to ignore any contributing factor.”
The inspiration behind the county’s ordinance came from a presentation by Behavioral Health & Recovery Services before the Youth Commission in February. According to the BHRS, kids in the county are using the drug far more readily than four years ago, Canepa’s spokesman, Bill Silverfarb, said.
While the Youth Commission responded by drafting a public health crisis resolution, the board of supervisors decided to “outright ban” the substance in unincorporated San Mateo County because they have the authority to do so.
That decision was modeled after Orange County’s pioneering ban on the recreational sale of whippets in February. The Orange County Board of Supervisors enacted this ban to address a rise in nitrous oxide misuse among its young residents, as well as to close a “don’t ask, don’t tell” loophole that allowed smoke shops to sell nitrous oxide canisters.
Although California illegalized possession of the substance for intoxication in 1989 and the selling of nitrous oxide to minors in 2009, San Mateo hasn’t found the state laws to be potent enough. The ordinance would include a 21-year-old age verification for purchase, a specific permit to sell nitrous oxide, and a ban on flavored nitrous oxide products altogether.
Down the line, the Youth Commission is looking at banning kratom, which is an over-the-counter supplement that increases alertness and talkativeness, but at high doses, acts like an opioid. The substance has also been known to be used by some as an alternative for chronic pain and to help counteract the symptoms of opioid withdrawal, but many in the health community rebut those benefits. Kratom is not scheduled under the Controlled Substance Act by the DEA.
Since 2018, smoking rates in San Mateo County have fallen by half or so, which Canepa’s spokesman attributes to the county’s 2020 ban on the sale of flavored tobacco. He mentions this drop as a testament to the effectiveness of drug ordinances in the county to curb youth misuse.
San Mateo County maintains one of the lowest smoking rates in the U.S. — 3.9% of adults, according to the county’s most recent All Together Better health indicator database. That’s nearly a third of the national rate, 12.1%, and well below the state’s rate, 6.1%. Nonetheless, the board is working toward a totally smoke-free county.
While it’s challenging to determine whether the effects of recreational nitrous oxide use are more harmful than other recreational drugs, it’s true that the risks of acute danger and long-term health damage are higher for whippets over weed, at least. Compared to opiates, though, laughing gas is far less addictive and deadly.
For the board, the ordinance on nitrous oxide is not about dwindling efforts to address other kinds of substance misuse in the county. Rather, it’s about enacting all efforts possible to keep the county healthy, including by making what was an “easily attainable” substance at retail shops harder to access.
The county health department intends to address youth nitrous oxide misuse through non-policy means, such as education and data collection, although no concerted efforts have been made. The director of Behavioral Health & Recovery Services, Jei Africa, said the unit is “just beginning to understand the complexity” and hasn’t enacted any specific programs yet, despite conveying the problem to the Youth Commission.
While the health department’s communications officer, Preston Merchant, told this news organization the department does not have any local data about nitrous oxide misuse, county officials are interested in dedicating more energy to observing the risks whippets pose to the community, and value collaborating with young people to holistically address the health needs of the community.
