Humboldt Gives Nitrous Oxide Ban Initial Go-Ahead
The Drug Users Bible, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Humboldt County is on its way to banning retail sale of nitrous oxide and related paraphernalia through an ordinance introduced at the May 6 Board of Supervisors meeting.
Sponsored by Board Chair Michelle Bushnell and Supervisor Mike Wilson, the ordinance is set for adoption on June 10 and is a step toward broader prohibition.
The ordinance is for the unincorporated county area but Public Health Director Sofia Pereira said a “unified policy approach” that includes cities is being worked on.
“And the thinking behind this really has been, if there’s a unified approach and consistency across all the jurisdictions, there is going to be more of an impact on addressing this and not having one jurisdiction be the place where folks are able to access nitrous oxide,” she continued.
As explained by Senior Program Manager Briana Sherlock, nitrous oxide is a gas that’s inhaled by users seeking recreational drug effects, including euphoria and sedation.
The trouble is, its long term side effects include memory loss, vitamin B12 depletion, weakened immune system and neurological damage.
Short term effects in “extreme” cases include heart attacks.
The county’s analysis of the availability of nitrous oxide in retail stores spanned all parts of the county, including cities.
Sherlock said a “retail landscape analysis” done from October through April found that out of 144 stores, 24 had nitrous oxide for sale and “located within plain sight.”
The presentation included descriptions of nitrous oxide equipment – canisters, the “crackers” that crack them open and dispense the gas for convenient use and tanks that also “dispense a steady stream of nitrous oxide gas.”
Sherlock said 18 of the nitrous-friendly stores also had canisters, crackers and/or tanks for sale.
Of the 24 stores in the analysis, 18 were “smoke shops,” Sherlock said, with the others ranging from a “chef store” in the safety corridor between Arcata and Eureka, a home goods store in Ferndale, “a handful of independent stores, like glass blowing shops,” and a mini-market.
Sale of nitrous oxide might be done more insidiously as well, suggesting a potential enforcement challenge.
“We are hearing anecdotally that there could be retailers that are selling nitrous oxide in back rooms or behind closed doors,” Pereira said. “So that’s an important thing to acknowledge, that what we’re sharing is what was observed in plain sight and it’s possible that there are retailers that are selling it behind closed doors or by request only in a back room, for example.”
The ordinance’s ban on nitrous doesn’t allow exceptions for culinary or automotive-related use but does allow use for health care and dentistry, and in food products like packaged and canned whipped cream.
The ordinance bars the shipping of nitrous into county areas and Pereira said online outlets like Amazon will be notified of that.
Sales are defined as misdemeanor crimes in the ordinance and punishments also include loss of business and/or tobacco retail sale licenses.
In a related agenda item, supervisors approved amending the county’s tobacco licensing ordinance to include mention of the nitrous oxide ban.
Bushnell referred to presentations from Redway School students earlier in the day, including from her 12-year-old grandson, who – unbeknownst to her in advance – talked about how he “witnessed firsthand” nitrous oxide’s effects, his cousin having been “paralyzed from it.”
“His grandma’s passion is his passion as well,” Bushnell said, referring to concern about nitrous use.
Bushnell owns the Boot Leg store in downtown Garberville and she said the death of one of her employees was nitrous-related.
Supervisors unanimously approved the nitrous ban ordinance and tobacco ordinance amendment, with Wilson absent due to the late afternoon timing.
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Humboldt County wants to “ban” a drug…
You are cracking me up again, Mrs Bushnell…
I used to walk the Airport at Hoopa, and see literally hundreds of little cylinders, along with Grey Goose Bottles and Corona Beer bottles…
In 73 years, nobody has ever done Nitrous in my presence, but you go ahead and try prohibition as a method of controlling your constituency…
I honestly believe, if you live in SoHum, that you can obtain any drug in the Pharmacopeia down at the Motel, 24/7/365…
Failing that, there’s always booze and cigarettes, which kill millions…
“73 years, nobody has ever done Nitrous in my presence”.
You have either never been to a Harley Run, or you just don’t understand what is in all those balloons.
Some drugs are silly…
Dentists used to give it, for $25 extra, while cleaning your teeth…
How much does a whippit cost?
Never mind, 2100 gram container of 99% pure NO for $90 on Amazon, but banned in Humboldt…
How much does a whippit cost?
The big ones are $100.00 each…
$115.95
https://miamimagic.com/products/new-for-2023-baking-bad-3-3l-n2o-cannister
Ernie, please don’t include the Harley Run. Not every person that goes to those events is a jackass. It just takes a few to make the rest of us look like druggies. Nitrous is just not only in ballons but is also used in those small round canisters. Some adults and kids poke a hole in the top and huff the gas as it comes out. They do a few to get loopy. Some kitchen appliances and air pistols also use them.
I don’t think anyone is huffing CO2 cartridges for bb guns, but anything’s possible I guess.
My friend, you are completely wrong with that comment.
“Ernie, please don’t include the Harley Run. Not every person that goes to those events is a jackass.”
I think everyone knows that. The fact that I attended quite a few runs is solid proof that not everyone is a jackass.
But, to think that all those folks were just playing with balloons is ridiculous. So, don’t be ridiculous.
Ernie, I am not ridiculous and that statement is a punch below the belt!
Harley Runs are hardly the social situation that should cause new rules for the rest of the county. I think new laws will create more users than we’re before. Did prohibition work? We all know how deadly ETOH IS. Stupid.
I’ll drink to that!
I agree, you can’t legislate common sense. But, ask any first responder about the bodies that they have picked from lack of common sense.
73 years and you’ve never seen anyone do it? I see people sitting behind gas stations doing it almost every day. I can go to about any parking lot around here and find a couple cannisters laying around. It’s use is pretty widespread. Nox might not kill you immediately, but it’s effects can cause unconsciousness, which if driving, can cause you to wreck and kill someone. Remember this story from last year on LoCo?
That said, a ban will simply make it only slightly more difficult to get locally. People will hustle it in from another county, as with anything else floating along the streets here.
Thanks for saving us from everything but lousy leadership…
👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍. F–king politicians. Great at solving non- existent problems incapable of solving actual problems.
Speaking of leadership, why was Wilson missing in action — did he have to get home early to watch reruns of “The Three Stooges”?
“Supervisors unanimously approved the nitrous ban…with Wilson absent due to the late afternoon timing.”
It gets better…
“Sponsored by Board Chair Michelle Bushnell and Supervisor Mike Wilson, the ordinance is set for adoption on June 10 and is a step toward broader prohibition.”
>”The trouble is, its long term side effects include memory loss, vitamin B12 depletion, weakened immune system and neurological damage.
Short term effects in “extreme” cases include heart attacks.”
—
> ”As explained by Senior Program Manager Briana Sherlock, nitrous oxide is a gas that’s inhaled by users seeking recreational drug effects, including euphoria and sedation.”
—
This is from a county that spends money on encouraging people to smoke dope ?
—
Isn’t that dammed funny !!!
I snorted coffee out of my nose !!!
—
My mind reels.
Yep. And meanwhile, yet ANOTHER smoke shop opens in town.
UNFREAKINGBELIEVABLE!
3 actually that I know of. You can now drive the length of 101 through Eureka and be in constant view of one. They’re getting to be like gas stations. At some point market dilution is going to run them out of business. You can only have so many hustlers on a corner.
Are you talking about dispensaries, or smoke shops? 2 different things..
Both, if you know where they’re all at. If not, they’re all walking distance from one another.
There soon will be a shortage of whipped cream in stores
Well just by real whipped cream and beat it yourself. Don’t be lazy and it’s better for you
Yup.
it’s better with, happy cream.
Ye’s not gonna like this.
YAY this is great. As someone that picks up garbage on the side of the road, I would sometimes find a pile of hundreds just dumped. I notice since the reduction of grows, that there seems to be less and less so that is a good thing.
I’ve always wondered why they throw their cartridges out on the road. The tire shop has a collection of them that they have taken out of flat tires. They completely ruin a tire.
As a first responder I went on a crash off the road. The young driver was huffing nitrous while driving. There were nitrous cartridges scattered all over. The fire chief said, “I see that you are a caterer”. LOL. The kid didn’t understand. (caterers use nitrous to dispense whipped cream, the original use of “Whippets”).
I used to be a first responder, too, Ernie
I loved it, but maybe I wasn’t really cut out for it…
Still, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure…
So, I’ve got a pretty good collection of Nitrous Oxide bottles too, among other things…
But, I’m not looking for the baby whipit cartridges…
I’m on the hunt for the TROPHIES…!!!
😁
I usually find and pick up at least one or two, on just about every road trip…
I’ve got everything from “spikes”, to “forked horns”, to ‘three pointers”, and even some “four pointers”…
The baby whipit cartridges, (“fawns”), might be able to puncture a tire, but just imagine what these bad boys could do, under a wheel, or “behind the wheel”…
Your a first responder, I’m sure that you would understand…
I pick these things up out of the road to keep everyone safer…
Here is a pile of 24 of them I’ve collected, in order to keep my community safer, from all the roads I travel…
(2 more “three pointers” not shown…)
These things are road hazards, are way bigger and heavier than they look, and can knock you out, in more ways than one…
The smallest “spikes”, are about 12″X3″, up to the largest “4 pointers”, about 6″x24″, with 2 or three sizes in between…
If you aren’t seeing them everywhere along the road, now you know why…
It’s a service I provide, free of charge…
It’s scarier when one realizes that it’s people driving down the road, huffing the shit out of these ginormous nitrous bottles, and then casually tossing them out the window, when it’s empty, or if it’s not empty yet, when they see a CHP…
They aren’t just falling out of people’s trash loads…
I find them empty and not empty…
And, no, I don’t do Nitrous…
I’m all for banning the sale of them in Humboldt, but that won’t stop anyone, or solve anything, they will just become more costly and valuable that way…
I worked with you on a few calls. Your heart was in the right place!
OMG the nitrous canisters!
Thanks Ernie, that means a lot to me…
I’m actually a bit concerned with getting caught with them, even though I am just doing road hazard control, but maybe they are perfectly legal…???
Haven’t really figured out how to safely and properly dispose of them, so they just keep piling up…
Maybe that’s why some people just tossed them out the car window…???
They’ll still be readily available on the Rez. Humboldt County law doesn’t apply to sovereign nations.
And no 10% tax…???
‘Pump and Play and Fish”…
Oh, wait, the casino is right next door…
“Fish and Chips”…😁😉🙂
You can just go into grocery stores and inhale the nitrous out of the whip cream and leave them on the shelves.
Voice of experience?
Sounds like the voice of one of my dearest childhood friends…
🤣 😅 🙂 😁
They would be banned too, “no exceptions for culinary use”
Whipped cream is not banned in the ordinance
I have to walk a section of 36 frequently, the amount of canisters on the side of the road is scary. No wonder people are head on in your lane…
Interesting considering someone’s son drinks & drives frequently. Witnesses mentioned someone defended their sons actions, claiming the breathalyzer ignition couldn’t be blown into by friends because it’s coded to the sons DNA, so it was not possible the son could not drive drunk. (Absolute, lie, DNA coded breathalyze do not exist lol, petty). People lose lives from drunk driving all the time, so when you gonna ban alcohol too? Misdemeanor, lol, y’all just gave the green light for the black market that’s struggling as is and will cause more folks doing dumb things on the road driving to legal counties and BK. What a joke of legislation, this fixed nothing, and is another tax lose to the cty, but go ahead give yourselves another raise 🤣
So now I will have to smuggle in a few canisters so I can use my whipped cream dispenser? Great
If they ban the Nitrous cartridges there goes my power supply for my air pistols that shoot BB’s and small pellets (lead free).
That’s c02 lol
I also use Nitrous cartridges if I can’t find Co2.
huh They’re different sizes but maybe you know some trick
I’m pretty sure those use CO2 not N2O
WTF martin srsly!
airguns use CO2 or pump.
Never heard of an N2O airgun.
Won’t be reading martin anymore!
Sorry, but I don’t plan to leave this site anytime soon! You need to do some research on air gun canisters.
Please don’t do CO², Martin, I’m afraid that the consequences would be far worse than doing NO²…
😉
Sounds like you have a drug problem Humboldt, crack me up.
Who are you referring to cowboy?
Everyone i see in Humboldt on a bmx bike over the age of 30.
If they really want to do some good they should also ban alcohol and tobacco and ANYTHING else that can harm you.
Or here’s a thought, make EVERYTHING legal and just let nature run its course 🤔
Unfortunately “nature run(ning) its course” kills other people on roadways.
Its ok, it’ll make for some great defensive driving.
When will they EVER learn???? Tried banning alcohol, that worked very well, DEA has been “fighting” a “war” on all manner of drugs for ever with absolutely no effect (there are more drugs available than there has ever been). P.S. if rump is serious about saving government money the DEA can be abolished and no one will notice it’s gone….except a bunch of out of work cops. Bushnell et al need to move on and return their salaries to us. Not doing anything dosen’t deserve a pay check.
That take is always dismissive. In truth Prohibition, while hugely unpopular and having unintended consequences , actually did reduce alcohol consumption on a long lasting basis. One still having an effect today.
At one point almost all neighborhoods had a tavern or bar within a few blocks. They closed down during Prohibitiion and zoning laws kept them out. But, like your comment, we never seem to learn the lesson of both Prohibition nor it’s repeal.
https://vinepair.com/articles/americas-consumption-beer-wine-spirits-since/
I’m really surprised the local restaurants didn’t lobby hard against this. How will they serve whipped cream? I suppose they can buy the expensive canned stuff.
They buy wholesale?
I remember, I did nitrous oxide once, decades ago. I did a lot of it, filled up this Romper Room balloon and went at it. Whoa. It was, like, my mind withdrew into this ethereal world, where it was what existed between all the atoms that was the reality. And I saw it all ruled by this great duality, where the one half of the duality is constantly contesting the other half, trying to get around the other half, to penetrate the other half, to deceive it. For both ends of eternity. See, that’s the way you’re supposed to do nitrous oxide, you know, to learn something. Not just to get all silly at tailgate parties in the parking lots of concerts.
Guess I’ll start shooting the feral cats, squirrels and other undesirable critters on my property with a .22 instead of my pellet gun. But then I’ll have to go out of state to get ammo. Or should I go out of state to get the nitrous? 🤔 Damned county needs to go after the huffers, not the retailers trying to make a buck.
if you’ve been using N2O you’ve been using the wrong gas anyways so the ban did you a favor, and your guns should shoot properly with compressed CO2
Again it’s co2 not nitrous they aren’t even the same dimensions, co2 guns suck anyways get a pcp (pre charged pneumatic) and buy a compressor you will be amazed how far pellet guns have come, a hatsan blitz in 25 or 30 cal is amazing.
Sorry to be a pain in the ass from time to time Kym. I’ll try to do better.
Thank you for the apology. I appreciate it. You’ll be off moderation on Memorial Day.
If people in Humboldt County were trying to live off of manufacturing nitrous oxide instead of growing marijuana, the Board of Supervisors would likely be inclined to ignore the nitrous oxide and pass an ordinance banning marijuana.
They buy massive boxes off AMAZON. 100 or more per box. Could even be sold as WHIP It’s but contain something else. It is a food product. Should NEVER be sold except out of a kitchen supply store. NO TOBACCO SHOPE, SMOKE SHOP ANYWHERE IN US SHOULD SELL WHIP IRS AS AN INTOXICANT!!! This has been going on over 20 + years. No one listened. The thousands of cartridges thrown out on the roadside. This is a CRISIS.
Crisis? Ever been to a dead or Phish show?
Yeah and yeah. Certainly, the multitude of empty canisters in the road and on the river banks are Phish or GD related lol. Have witnessed some pretty tragic stuff from cloudy heads and ignorant actions It’s not a benefit.
Wonder how many empty Nitrous bottles are on the Supervisior’s floor?
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I’m sorry but banning whipped cream canisters for culinary use is both ridiculous and financially harmful. Yay for only shitty and expensive whipped cream in restaurants and coffee shops, coming to your area soon!
Too bad we can surmise that this will rhetorically increase demand while anyone looking to get high, will still find a way to do so. Glad the country did the research on proven harm reduction methods!!
👎
No automotive use? So cars racing with nitrous oxide at Samoa dragstrip will be illegal?
Nox for racing has sulfur dioxide in it and you won’t be inhaling that at all. It’s like breathing your own farts. You can try though….
I guess so because the engines just love the stuff. The more they get the more power up to a point. It is engine candy.
I am grateful for this ban. Anyone out there who thinks that this stuff is no big deal… it’s way tf worse than you know. Than I knew, or than it used to be. I’ve done plenty of whip-it’s in my day. At shows, parties, and the dentist. It was fun, but not worth loosing your ability to walk! Or having your internal organs shut down! Or killing yourself and others because you thought it was fun to do while you’re driving! I don’t get it. But a whole lot of kids do. Including my kid.
My daughter is 25. She’s amazing. Incredibly intelligent, athletic, absolutely beautiful… She doesn’t drink or use (other) drugs, not even pot. She’s doesn’t smoke cigarettes or vape. But she got addicted to nitrous 5 years ago. She does a lot… A LOT.
She spends $1500 in a day on it sometimes. About a year ago she started loosing her mobility. Started using a walker, and now, she’s in a wheelchair. She can’t bathe by herself. She has to have a portable toilet next to her bed. Her body can’t absorb B12. All of our systems rely on b12 to function. So now her liver is shutting down, her kidneys.. and this could be permanent damage.
But there is a chance that she could regain some of her health back. But only if she stops. And she won’t.
She won’t even admit that nitrous is the cause of her health problems. I can’t get through to her. I’ve tried everything. I went to the house she was renting in Redway to visit her. There were hundreds of those big tanks staked up on the front porch, the back porch, by the trash cans, in the yard… so I said that’s it! I packed her stuff up and moved her back in with me. She seemed to be doing better, and seemed to have stopped doing it, but it only lasted a few months. As soon as a “friend” came by and picked her up she went straight to the smoke shop and bought a case of the big tanks. Shortly after that I caught her stealing money from me. That was something I thought she would never do. When I confronted her she freaked out, threatened to kill herself, and moved out soon after. I told her that she was not welcome until she got clean. But after almost a year of not hearing from her, I realized that my ultimatum did not have my desired effect, and I’d rather see her and talk to her than not, even if she continued to make very poor choices. I love her so much and it scares me to death knowing that any day could be her last. And there is nothing I can do about it.
if this ban helps make it even a little bit harder to get, then that’s great. If it prevents even one parent from having to go through this with their child, or loosing their child, then it’s a blessing.
A lot of comments say that this won’t solve anything.. and I’m truly sorry about the price of your whip cream going up on your slice of pie… but I am grateful for it.. something has got to be done.