The Sonoma County Board of Supervisors is poised to adopt an ordinance restricting the sale and distribution of nitrous oxide to curb its recreational use.
Health officials have flagged nitrous oxide, a colorless, nonflammable gas colloquially called “laughing gas,” “NOX” or “whippits,” as an emerging public health issue after noticing greater indicators of recreational use in the community. The gas is used legally for medical (dentistry), commercial, industrial, scientific, automotive and food-related purposes, including in whipped cream cannisters.
But the increase in its use as a recreational intoxicant has been documented by hospitals, police departments and even environmental cleanup groups who reported finding large quantities of discarded nitrous oxide cylinders and containers, health officials told the board Tuesday…