NORTHAMPTON — Efforts by the Northampton Department of Health and Human Services to restrict the sale of nitrous oxide in the city — a measure that’s set to go into effect in two weeks — began with a single email.
According to DHHS Commissioner Merridith O’Leary, the potential harms caused by the chemical compound first became known to her after she received an email from a parent that she had met during a public budget hearing. The parent had recounted how her son had struggled from recreational use of nitrous oxide, also known as “laughing gas.”
“It wasn’t on my radar, honestly,” O’Leary recalled in an interview with the Gazette. “But once we really started looking, we were seeing it being sold in some of our convenience stores and adult-only tobacco stores, and we were seeing the canisters in really large quantities and in flavored varieties.”
Nitrous oxide is legal in the United States and has several legitimate uses, often used in dentist’s offices and in cooking supplies. But in recent years people have been inhaling the compound for recreational purposes. Once inhaled, the chemical deprives the brain of oxygen, inducing a brief euphoric effect but can also lead to long-term damage to the brain, nerves and kidneys if abused.
After realizing the extent of its usage locally, the city’s Board of Health unanimously approved a new regulation restricting the sale of nitrous oxide in the city, set to take effect on June 15.
Under the new regulation, sale of the compound is prohibited in all retail establishments in the city with the exception of medical supply and kitchen supply stores. Even in stores allowed to sell, the product can only be provided upon request and can only be sold to those 21 and over with proof of identification.
“The idea is really to close the gap that allows stores for legitimate use to sell it, but also to protect the health and safety of our residents, especially the youth,” O’Leary said.
The regulation was first introduced in February and passed in April following a public forum on the matter. O’Leary said that shortly after the public forum, the department sent out a letter to retailers asking to voluntarily take it off the shelves ahead of an official ban, something O’Leary said many complied with.
“After we did that, we honestly couldn’t find it [nitrous oxide] anywhere,” O’Leary said. “We have good business partners that care about our community.”
The regulations only extend as far as city limits, and youths have other means of acquiring the compound such as over the internet or in neighboring cities and towns. But O’Leary said she hoped that preventing the wider sale of the drug in the city could send a message to the state and neighboring communities to take action.
“We’re protecting our community, our residents and our youth,” she said. “Hopefully other communities, like we’ve seen in the past, will take notice of what we do here in Northampton and we’ll see this trending.”
In March, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration warned consumers that inhaling laughing gas for its euphoric effects can cause dangerously low blood pressure, leading to loss of consciousness and injuries. The agency flagged a number products sold in colorful packaging at gas stations, vape shops and online including Cosmic Gas, Galaxy Gas and MassGass.
Companies selling the products cited by regulators advertise them “for culinary use only” and often include disclaimers on their websites warning against inhaling. But videos of young people using the products recreationally have circulated on social media platforms for years.
The FDA said it has seen “an increase in reports of adverse events” with nitrous products. And poison control centers have also reported emergency calls from people who had to be rushed to the hospital after collapsing while misusing the products.
There are no federal limits on who can purchase nitrous oxide, although some states have passed minimum age requirements. The FDA regulates the gas as a medical product when used by doctors and dentists, although it’s unclear how much oversight it would have of products marketed for culinary use.
Last year, the Northampton Board of Health also passed measures to restrict the sale of tobacco, limiting oral nicotine pouches to adult-only stores, but did not enact a proposal that would have prevented sale to anyone born after 2004, also known as a nicotine-free generation policy. The latter regulation was however passed in Belchertown in December, making it the first community in western Massachusetts to do so.
Material from the Associated Press used in this report. Alexander MacDougall can be reached at amacdougall@gazettenet.com.
