Senators advance bill restricting sales of ‘whippets’ following pleas for help

COLUMBIA — A South Carolina bill that seeks to end recreational sales of nitrous oxide, or “whippets,” advanced to the Senate floor Tuesday after viral videos took a cheap high that’s been around for decades to a new level of misuse.

Nitrous oxide, also known as laughing gas, is a common sedative breathed in through a mask or nosepiece to calm patients during medical and dental procedures. It’s also used in cooking and sold in canisters that turn liquid cream into whipped cream — hence the nickname.

Sen. Ed Sutton told legislators Tuesday he authored the bill after learning that canisters of nitrous oxide were being sold at vape shops to youth looking for a rush.

“This is not to bake pies at home; this is to go get high,” said the Charleston Democrat.

His proposal would ban the sale of nitrous oxide in South Carolina as a recreational inhalant, while still allowing sales to adults for intended uses in cooking, medical procedures, and vehicle modifications.

The bipartisan bill, co-sponsored by Democrat Russell Ott of St. Matthews and Republican Jeff Zell of Sumter, advanced with a unanimous vote by the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Inhaling nitrous oxide can cause serious health problems including loss of oxygen, loss of consciousness, and psychological symptoms like hallucinations and paranoia. Habitual use can cause brain damage, according to warnings last year by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

The bill is part of a broader effort in the Legislature in this two-year session to crack down on intoxicating products widely available to youth in South Carolina stores.

A law passed last May bans stores from selling kratom, an herb with psychoactive compounds, to anyone under 21. A bill that cleared both chambers this month and is on the verge of becoming law creates a registry of e-cigarettes in an effort to stem sales of illegal fruit- and candy-flavored vapes popular among students. And bills that seek to regulate or ban sales of hemp products with THC are on the House calendar for floor debate and on the agenda of Senate meetings Wednesday.

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Driving those efforts were complaints from parents.

Social media trend

The first hearing on “whippets” was last week, when Michelle Beaver of Charleston testified about a loved one who became severely addicted to inhaling nitrous oxide.

He easily bought large tanks, some with 3,000 grams of nitrous oxide each, she told a Senate panel.

Online, such large tanks are marketed as convenient for large-scale restaurant and catering uses.

“It’s hard enough to battle the illicit substances that are flooding our streets,” she said. “It’s even more perplexing to find that there’s another drug quietly, legally being sold in almost every corner vape smoke shop and corner gas station that are destroying our loved ones and tearing families apart.”

She pleaded for legislators’ help without publicly identifying who she was testifying about.

He suffered psychological effects including paranoia and suicide attempts. He’s in a rehab program because of nitrous oxide, Beaver said.

Sutton told the SC Daily Gazette he drafted the bill after Beaver, a constituent, approached him about her family’s ordeal.

People have been inhaling nitrous oxide recreationally for generations.

But it came under renewed scrutiny in 2024, when the Atlanta-based company Galaxy Gas was at the center of a social media trend that concerned parents and doctors. Videos on TikTok, YouTube, and X showing young people using Galaxy Gas cannisters racked up millions of views, The New York Times reported in September 2024.

Canisters are sold in colorful packaging and with flavors like vanilla cupcake and strawberry cream.

Young people were posting so often about getting high off nitrous oxide that a TikTok search for “Galaxy Gas” returned a warning message about the dangers of misusing substances, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported, also in September 2024.

Galaxy Gas wasn’t the only brand that came up in searches. According to the FDA warning, other brand names selling nitrous oxide products include Baking Bad, Miami Magic, and Monster Gas.

Galaxy Gas told media outlets at the time that its products were meant for cooking, not inhalation, and a spokesperson said the company was “deeply concerned” about reports of people inhaling their products.

On Sept. 19, 2024, Galaxy Gas paused the sale of nitrous oxide canisters. Its owners sold the Galaxy Gas brand weeks later, New York Magazine reported.

Details of the bill

Sutton’s proposal would ban the sale of any flavored nitrous oxide in South Carolina.

“I couldn’t find any legitimate culinary use for that; that is strictly, unfortunately, to sell to people with the intent of getting high,” he told the SC Daily Gazette.

Doctors, dentists, and veterinarians could still use nitrous oxide for sedation.

Adults 18 and older could buy up to 24 cartridges of 8 grams each daily for cooking.

Adults could also buy nitrous oxide from a licensed automotive business, like a shop that sells car parts. Injecting nitrous oxide into a gasoline engine can boost horsepower.

Sellers would be required to ask to see a government-issued ID to verify a buyer’s age.

Under Sutton’s bill, illegal sellers could be punished with up with six months in jail and a $1,000 fine for a first conviction. The maximum sentence would rise to a year in prison and $5,000 fine for a second violation, and up to $10,000 and three years in prison for additional convictions.

Several other states regulate or are pursuing regulations on the sale of nitrous oxide. Louisiana passed a nitrous oxide ban with similar exceptions in 2024.

Last month, an Oregon law took effect that requires businesses to ask for ID and sell only to buyers 18 and older.

A study published last July in JAMA Network Open suggested that U.S. deaths due to nitrous oxide have increased significantly. In 2010, researchers tracked 23 deaths attributable to nitrous oxide poisoning among people 15 to 74 years old. In 2023, that number jumped to 156 deaths.

Of the 1,240 reported deaths over that entire span, 74% happened in the latter seven years, researchers found.