Los Angeles votes to pull Galaxy Gas and other laughing gas from smoke shops

The Los Angeles City Council voted 14-0 on Wednesday, October 7, to ban tobacco and cannabis shops from selling nitrous oxide, the gas sold in flavored canisters under brand names like Galaxy Gas. The ordinance now goes to Mayor Karen Bass. If she approves it, a violation would be a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of up to $1,000 or up to six months in county jail, LAist reported.

Whipped cream and other pre-packaged foods that use nitrous oxide only as a propellant are exempt. The council also asked the City Attorney's Office to draft a second ordinance that would extend criminal penalties to any retailer selling the products without a legitimate use, NBC Los Angeles reported.

Nitrous oxide is laughing gas, the same thing dentists use to sedate patients. The canisters are sold as a propellant for whipped cream, and people inhale them to get high. In 2025 the Food and Drug Administration warned consumers not to inhale any flavor of nitrous oxide from any size canister, tank, or charger, and named more than a dozen brands, including Galaxy Gas, Baking Bad, Cosmic Gas, Whip-it!, and Miami Magic. The agency said they're sold online and at stores including Amazon, eBay, Walmart, smoke and vape shops, and gas stations.

The FDA's list of possible harms runs from headaches and numbness to blood clots, paralysis, vitamin B12 deficiency, and death. People who inhale it regularly can end up with spinal cord or brain damage that lasts even after they stop, the agency says.

Councilmember Imelda Padilla, whose district covers part of the San Fernando Valley, spent two years on the ordinance. The Los Angeles Unified School District said in a filing that more students have been caught with the gas on school grounds, Los Angeles magazine reported. Albert Melena of the San Fernando Valley Partnership told the council that 73% of schools in the city are within 1,000 feet of a smoke shop.

"To the smoke shops out there advertising and selling NOS, this is the day where we're asking you to stop," Padilla said. Students from Bert Corona Charter High School in Pacoima spoke in favor of the ban.

"For the students that are here, remember you can create a world where the next generation of students won't have to show up to City Council to ask for poison to be taken away from in and around their schools," said Council President Marqueece Harris-Dawson.

The city vote follows two new state laws. Gov. Gavin Newsom signed SB 936 on September 18. It bans selling flavored nitrous oxide, containers that hold more than 8 grams, containers people can inhale from directly, and devices made for inhaling it. On September 30 he signed SB 758, which bars retailers from selling nitrous oxide at retail locations. Grocery stores are excluded, but convenience stores are not. The law also lets cities and counties pass stricter rules, as long as they don't block legitimate uses like medicine, dentistry, food preparation, manufacturing, and auto work.

Selling or possessing nitrous oxide to use as a recreational drug has been a misdemeanor in California for more than a decade, and so is selling it to anyone under 18. Rialto, Huntington Beach, Santa Ana, and unincorporated Orange County have already passed their own local bans.

Padilla asked residents to report cannabis or tobacco shops selling nitrous oxide to the City Attorney's office at [email protected].

Sources

• LAist: LA City Council votes to ban weed and smoke shops from selling laughing gas
• NBC Los Angeles: LA City Council bans nitrous oxide sales at tobacco and cannabis shops
• Los Angeles magazine: L.A. City Council bans sale of nitrous oxide products in smoke shops
• FDA: FDA advises consumers not to inhale nitrous oxide products
• California Legislature: SB 936, Nitrous oxide sales
• California Legislature: SB 758, Public health, nitrous oxide