LA cracks down on drug-huffing partygoers with key move

Los Angeles is cracking down on the city’s smoke shops after a growing street scene involving nitrous oxide tanks, balloons and people getting high on the so-called “laughing gas.”The City Council voted 14-0 Wednesday to ban smoke shops and other tobacco retailers from selling or distributing nitrous oxide for recreational use.The ordinance makes an exception for pre-packaged food products that use nitrous oxide, or NAWS, as a propellant.The biggest news, opinion and culture shaping California right now.

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Never miss a story Councilmember Imelda Padilla, who has pushed the measure for two years, said the crackdown comes as cities across California have moved to restrict recreational nitrous sales.“For two years now I’ve worked closely with community partners… and the city attorney to usher this policy through the council process.Along the way we have seen support from our community, we’ve seen other cities and counties join and it’s even gone all the way to the state level,” Padilla said.“Our fight against the recreational sale of nitrous oxide, often called NAWS, now has new tools at the state level.

SB 758 prohibits smoke shops, tobacco retailers and convenience stores from selling nitrous oxide altogether.SB 936 bans flavored nitrous oxide and restricts the sale of large unflavored tanks, commonly used, recreationally,” she further said.Padilla said the new state laws also give local governments more tools to impose additional restrictions.Albert Melena, a representative of the San Fernando Valley Partnership, a nonprofit focused on healthy communities, pointed to the proximity of smoke shops to schools.“73% of the schools in the city of Los Angeles are within 1,000 feet of a smoke shop,” Melena said.

“This is literally a public health issue.”The crackdown comes after a striking sc...