New York Retailers Begin ID Checks for Whipped Cream Sales

This illustration photograph shows capsules of nitrous oxide, also called "laughing gas," displayed on a table in Lille, France, on May 10, 2022. Denis Charlet/AFP via Getty Images

Stores in New York have begun to require ID checks for whipped cream as retailers comply with a 2021 law banning sales to people under 21, according to reports.

New York state Sen. Joseph Addabbo (D-Queens) sponsored the legislation, which became law in November last year. Addabbo said his constituents were reporting nitrous oxide abuse and communities littered with empty whipped cream canisters.

Whippits is the street name for nitrous oxide chargers. Whipped cream canisters are filled with nitrous oxide, or laughing gas, which is used by dentists during oral surgery to relieve pain. Nitrous oxide causes a euphoric effect and is highly addictive.

“This new law is an important step in combatting a significant problem for many neighborhoods throughout my district,” Addabbo said in a 2021 statement announcing the law.

Cartridges that contain Nitrous Oxide gas litter the beach promenade after many visitors leave in Bournemouth, United Kingdom, on June 25, 2020. Finnbarr Webster/Getty Images

Nitrous oxide’s use as an ingredient in whipped cream helps to propel the cream out through the nozzle. According to Addabbo’s office, the product is legally sold over-the-counter for cooking and other at-home uses, making it an “inexpensive” and easy way for young people to “get high.”

“Used whippits piling up in our communities are not only an eye sore, but also indicative of a significant nitrous oxide abuse problem,” he added. “This law will help to protect our youth from the dangers of this lethal chemical, while helping to clean up our neighborhoods.”

Addabbo warned that nitrous oxide can be “extremely lethal” when not used for its “legitimate professional” purposes.

“Sadly, young people buy and inhale this gas to get ‘high’ because they mistakenly believe it is a ‘safe’ substance. This law will eliminate easy access to this dangerous substance for our youth,” he said.

Recently Enforced, Global Problem

Kent Sopris, president of the New York Association of Convenience Stores, said he became aware of the law only two months ago and began to inform members so they could begin enforcing it, Times Union reported.

This is why signs have reportedly begun to appear in stores more than eight months after the bill became law.

“I think that there is some sort of reporting mechanism that just didn’t go the way it was supposed to,” Sopris said. “We had been tracking the bill last year and when I looked in the bill tracking file, there is just no indication that it was signed.”

Retailers who violate the law are subject to a penalty of up to $250 for a first offense and up to $500 for each subsequent violation.

Nitrous oxide, when used as a so-called recreational dug, is dispensed into balloons which are used to inhale the gas.

Whippits are also a problem in other countries, including the United Kingdom, where legislation was introduced in 2016 in response to a rise substances that mimicked the effects of drugs such as cannabis, cocaine, amphetamine, and ecstasy.

The Psychoactive Substances Act 2016 came into effect in May of that year and banned the supply of previously unregulated psychoactive substances, also known as “legal highs,” that weren’t already covered by the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971.

Prior to the passage of the bill, protesters in the UK staged a demonstration that involved mass inhalation of nitrous oxide in 2015.

The 2016 law did not impact products such as whipped cream, which are governed by a different law.

Under the law, the British government advised retailers to “pay particular attention” for potential abuse of nitrous oxide where customers sought to buy it in bulk, especially if intoxicated.