NEW ORLEANS — A bill banning the retail sale of a propellant used in everything from rockets to cans of whipped cream has been scheduled for a debate on the Louisiana Senate floor.
The law passed on the state house floor unanimously on Monday.
On the streets, it's called hippy crack, whippets, and balloons, and doctors say its use can have long-lasting health consequences.
Twelve years ago, people along Frenchman Street told WWL you could find people selling nitrous oxide to inhale and get high.
“They just set up shop in this little parking lot, and just sell 'em for five bucks a hit, or 10 bucks a hit, or whatever,” said a man in the area in 2012. “And if they do a whippet or something, they lose the oxygen to their brain and then they pass out.”
And just this weekend, one person we talked to said those street-side sales of balloons and canisters continue today. Social media shows the same, with the sidewalks littered with balloons.
One security guard at one of the places on Frenchman Street didn’t want to talk on camera but said inhaling nitrous oxide is common year-round in the area, not just during big times like Mardi Gras and Jazz Fest. He says he sees people of all ages using it all the time.
It's known as laughing gas and is used by doctors and dentists to make people giddy and hallucinate during a procedure.
Public health specialist Dr. Jim Diaz of LSU Health New Orleans said nitrous oxide has been used since the early to mid-1800s for people to get high.
He said it is now known to be addictive and can cause irreversible damage to the spinal cord, nerve degeneration just like multiple sclerosis, sudden cardiac arrest, miscarriages, and death.
Kenner Representative Joe Stagni says this is why he is one of the authors of a bill to ban and increase penalties on the sale and possession of nitrous oxide. He said laughing gas is the second most used street drug and has flown under the radar for too long, costing the health of citizens and the health care system. He calls it an epidemic with devastating results.
Those same health concerns are why Tulane had a social media campaign telling its students how and where to get help.
Representative Stagni also says the cans that nitrous oxide is sold in are brightly colored, making them attractive to young people.