Meg’s Law Aims To Restrict Sale Of Nitrous Oxide

Inhalant abuse is nothing new, but as with so many categories of drugs, abuse patterns change according to which substances are easily available. Kids who attended elementary school in the 1980s, at the height of the War on Drugs, remember how good rubber cement smelled, and you could find a jar of it in almost every classroom. Now the stuff is nowhere to be found, and middle-aged folks who managed to survive the 80s are at a loss to describe to their kids how pleasant the smell of that amber ooze was. These days, the inhalant of choice is whippets. A criminal case several years ago involved a man who struck a pedestrian in a wealthy area of Miami-Dade County while under the influence of whippets and faced charges for drugged driving and vehicular manslaughter. And what are these whippets that cause so much devastation? They are nitrous oxide inhaled from cartridges where the gas is compressed, the same cartridges you find in every jar of whipped cream that enables you to elevate your hot chocolate as the people in snowy climes do. Most of the time, it is legal to possess nitrous oxide; whether a nitrous oxide cartridge is a whippet or just the harmless stuff that gives whipped cream its fluff is a matter of perspective. If you are facing criminal charges related to nitrous oxide abuse, contact a Tampa drug crime lawyer.

Florida’s Nitrous Oxide Laws Are Less Than Airtight

Florida’s smoke shops are a variegated tapestry of legal ambiguities. In every state that allows the recreational sale of cannabis and cannabis-like products, smoke shops are where you find them, but why stop there? All the other substances that are intoxicating but have yet to be listed on one of the schedules of the Controlled Substances Act are there, daring you to control them.

As it is with kratom, so it is with nitrous oxide. Smoke shops carry colorful boxes of nitrous oxide cartridges, the same ones that propel whipped cream onto ice cream sundaes. The family of Meg Dial, a Florida woman who died of a nitrous oxide overdose in front of a smoke shop in Orlando, wants to change that. In response, legislators have proposed Meg’s Law, which would ban the sale of nitrous oxide cartridges at smoke shops. If the bill becomes law, it will still be legal for dentists to administer nitrous oxide to induce mild sedation during dental procedures. It would also still be legal for supermarkets to sell whipped cream canisters with nitrous oxide cartridges inside. Regardless of the future of Meg’s Law, it is currently illegal in Florida to drive under the influence of nitrous oxide; if you abuse nitrous oxide while children are under your car, it can affect your court-ordered parenting time or your employment.

Contact Tampa Criminal Defense Attorney Bryant Scriven

A criminal defense lawyer can help you get justice if you are accused of crimes related to nitrous oxide abuse.  Contact Scriven Law in Tampa, Florida to schedule a consultation.

Source:

wlrn.org/government-politics/2026-02-02/florida-bill-would-ban-laughing-gas-from-smoke-shops