A can of grape-flavored nitrous oxide sits under State Sen. Brach Myers’ desk at the Louisiana Capitol.
Leading up to this spring’s legislative session, Myers set out to discover how easy it was for anyone to get ahold of laughing gas. At Myers’ behest, his 15-year-old son purchased the grape-flavored can on Amazon. Myers filmed it.
It was easy, costing just $35. His son faced no age verification barriers or other efforts to prevent the sale to a minor, Myers said. The can arrived just two days later.
Now, a bill from Myers that changes penalties for online sales of nitrous oxide has sailed through the Louisiana Legislature and is awaiting the governor’s signature. Senate Bill 98 would increase fines and stiffen penalties for recreational use and sale of nitrous oxide.
Myers, a Lafayette Republican, also carried another bill this year to decriminalize drug test strips, an initiative backed by the Louisiana Department of Health. Senate Bill 78, which supporters say they hope can help prevent drug-related deaths, has also passed through both chambers of the Legislature.
Myers said he’s concerned about young people watching videos of people using nitrous oxide on social media and trying to follow suit.
“While a lot of them are lighthearted, and they’re laughing and everything else, unfortunately, there’s some catastrophic events that are following,” he said. “Some of these kids are dying.”
Both bills passed through the Senate and House without opposition.
'They're absolutely aimed toward recreational use'
Under the state’s proposed new law for nitrous oxide, online retailers can face penalties for producing or selling the substance with added flavoring.
A person or business in violation of the proposed law could face up to a $25,000 fine, up to one year in prison and a 30-day suspension of any certificate, permit or license issued by the Louisiana Department of Alcohol and Tobacco Control. A second offense would result in the revocation of the ATC certificate, permit or license.
The bill outlines exceptions for those 21 and older who work for manufacturers that use nitrous oxide, such as dental practices, restaurants and industrial operations.
Louisiana already banned recreational use and sale of nitrous oxide last year.
“They’re absolutely aimed toward recreational use,” Myers said. “These are things that you’re supposedly selling for your car? Why does it need a grape flavor?”
'This is about saving lives'
His other bill about drug test strips legalizes the testing of substances other than fentanyl. While fentanyl test strips are currently legal in Louisiana, those that test for other substances are classified as drug paraphernalia under existing state law.
That’s a problem, Myers said, because other synthetic substances and cutting agents are showing up in street drugs.
“This is about saving lives,” Myers said during a Senate committee hearing. “We’re facing a public health emergency where the contents of a pill or substance can no longer be assumed or guessed. Drugs are being altered with fatal components that are invisible, odorless and deadly in microgram amounts, and many of them are undetectable by current, legally accessible test strips.”
Sen. Caleb Kleinpeter, R-Port Allen, asked during the hearing whether any district attorneys were prosecuting people who were using drug test strips for harm reduction purposes, or if the bill was meant to be proactive. A representative of the Louisiana District Attorneys Association indicated the latter.
Sen. Blake Miguez, R-New Iberia, asked Myers during the hearing whether using illegal drugs is a harmful and risky behavior. Myers agreed.
“I think the goal of your bill is to save lives,” Miguez said. “The reason I ask you those questions is to make a strong statement to the public that we also have an anti-drug stance because illegal and illicit drugs are very harmful to the public.”
The Louisiana Department of Health worked with Myers on the bill after seeing increases in overdose deaths involving substances other than fentanyl, said LDH Deputy Secretary Dr. Pete Croughan.
“This has definitely been a high priority for us,” Croughan said in an interview after the bill passed through the Legislature. “The thinking around this bill is to give us the tools to fight whatever comes next — what we don’t know is on the market, but may find in the next couple of months — and allow us to invest quickly, rather than having to go back every year to get a bill passed to expand the definition of paraphernalia.”
'We want to try to keep up, keep people safe'
Overdose deaths are high in Louisiana: The state ranked No. 5 among all states and the District of Columbia for the rate of overdose deaths in 2022, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Nationally, opioid deaths have recently dropped significantly. Louisiana is included in that trend, but opioid-related deaths were still up by 93% between 2019 and 2023 in the state, LDH data shows.
National experts are still trying to untangle the reasons for the recent decreases in deaths. The CDC has cited widespread increases in availability of naloxone, the medication used to reverse the effects of a fentanyl overdose, as one reason. Others they’ve cited include better treatment options for those addicted to drugs, changes in the illegal drug supply and national investments in prevention.
Harm reduction advocates in Louisiana also point to recent strategies, including the wider availability of fentanyl test strips, as a reason for the decrease.
But there are more dangerous drugs on the horizon that LDH officials say they are concerned about. Among them: nitazenes, a class of opioids up to 40 times more potent than fentanyl; xylazine, a veterinary tranquilizer with effects that cannot be reversed like opioids; and protonitazene and brorphine, synthetic opioids that are undetectable by available drug test strips in the state.
Test strips for nitazenes and xylazine are being manufactured and have been distributed in cities across the country. Louisiana hasn’t yet been able to do the same.
“We haven’t been able to obviously acquire or distribute as long as they’re considered drug paraphernalia,” Croughan said. “The cartels are innovating at a much faster pace than we would like, so we want to try to keep up, keep people safe.”