Santa Clara looks to ban recreational nitrous oxide sales

Santa Clara is preparing to ban recreational sales of nitrous oxide products, also known as whippets. But smoke shops within city limits have already started moving away from selling them.

The City Council on Tuesday received an update on the proposed ban, which would prohibit the sale and distribution of nitrous oxide for recreational use while allowing exceptions for legitimate medical, dental and culinary uses. Councilmembers directed staff to explore additional potential restrictions on where the products could be sold. The proposal is expected to return to council for further action, but the city has not yet set a date, according to Aimée Escobar, a management analyst in the City Manager’s Office.

“We found a bunch of empty nitrous oxide canisters along Calabazas, not far from the high school not long ago, and that was very disturbing,” District 3 Coucilmember Karen Hardy said at the meeting.

Santa Clara’s proposal comes as California implements new statewide restrictions on nitrous oxide under Senate Bill 936, which Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Sept. 18. City staff told councilmembers the local policy closely mirrors state law while giving Santa Clara its own enforcement mechanism.

Officials are considering the ban as other cities in Santa Clara County have moved to restrict nitrous oxide sales. San Jose prohibited the sale and distribution of nitrous oxide by smoke shops and similar retailers marketing products for recreational use in November 2025. Sunnyvale adopted a policy regulating the sale and distribution of nitrous oxide in June.

But it’s unclear how much of an impact Santa Clara’s proposed ban could have. Employees at Peace Pipe Smoke Shop and City Rock Smoke Shop told San José Spotlight they don’t sell nitrous oxide. Employees said they weren’t aware of the city’s proposed prohibition.

“(The nitrous oxide ban) will affect a lot of smoke shops, but depends on location,” Sammy, an employee at Peace Pipe Smoke Shop who declined to give his last name, told San José Spotlight. “Other (smoke shops), most of their sales is nitrous. But here, no, we don’t care about nitrous.”

Tenaz, an employee at City Rock Smoke Shop who declined to give her last name, said the store focuses on selling glass products over nitrous oxide. She said the proposed ban would not significantly affect business.

“(The city) never really lets us know when they do stuff, San Jose already banned it,” Tenaz told San José Spotlight.” I don’t really know what they are doing to enforce it, they set these laws then don’t really enforce them.”

The proposal would impose administrative fines of $500 for a first violation and $1,000 for a second or subsequent violation within one year. The city could also pursue business-license or permit revocation in certain circumstances.

City staff said they plan to conduct outreach to businesses if the ban moves forward, including direct mail to active business-license holders.

City Attorney Glenn Googins said having a local policy on the books would allow code enforcement, police and the city attorney’s office to enforce the ban, as enforcement of state law typically falls to district attorneys.

“What you would have is code enforcement, (police) and our office … actively involved in both helping design any unique aspects to our local law and addressing them,” Googins said at the meeting.

Contact Maryanne Casas-Perez at [email protected] or @CasasPerezRed on X.