From the Los Angeles Times
Efforts from California lawmakers aiming to ban the sale of nitrous oxide canisters (called ‘whippets’) to minors have paid off, as legislation in the form of bill AB 1015, has passed California’s Senate Public Safety Committee and is scheduled to come up for vote in August.
State representatives believe the proposed law will help reduce inhalant abuse among adolescents by not only “prohibiting sales, but also by focusing attention on the problem [of inhalant abuse] and creating debate and awareness.”
Recently, three students attending a North Hollywood middle school were hospitalized following their inhalation of noxious chemical fumes, while a nearby high school student “lost consciousness and had to be resuscitated” due to alleged ‘huffing.’ Reports of these incidents initially elicited shock among community leaders, parents, and teachers who were seemingly unaware of the growing number of local teens who experimented with such substances.
A California woman, and mother of three cites her utter disbelief after witnessing a teenage boy purchase a canister of nitrous oxide ‘whippet’ from an ice cream truck parked outside a local elementary school. Alarmed by the accessibility of ‘whippets’ in the community, several concerned residents and parents joined together to create Boyle Heights Coalition for a Safe and Drug Free Community, a group committed to reducing inhalant abuse within the Boyle Heights community. “The group, which testified in support of bill AB 1015 received a five-year, $625,000 federal grant [to aid a local] Boys and Girls Club in educating students and parents about inhalant and other drug dangers.”
Results from a 2008 report by the Federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration show inhalants are more commonly used among 12- and 13-year-olds than marijuana and prescription drugs.
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