Voice of OC75%
La Habra Eyes Kratom and Whippet Ban 43%
By Michelle King55%
7/23/2026, 1:00:00 PM
Keywords: Kratom, Whippets, Nitrous Oxide, Smoke Shops, La Habra, Orange County, Ban, Moratorium, Ordinance, Tobacco Retailers, Licensing
BS Summary: This article contains 26 faulty reasoning types, including Biased Writer Voice, Status Quo Bias, and Anecdotal, with Availability Heuristic as the most egregious example at 10.5% saturation with 95 hits. Analysis detected 1,038 faulty-reasoning hits from 901 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 46.4% and a BS Rank of 43% (12,652 of 21,887 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 57.80% of the article peer group.
La Habra could join a growing list of Orange County cities banning the sale of kratom and the recreational sale of nitrous oxide as officials also issued a moratorium on smoke shops, a retailer that commonly sells such drugs.
Cities like Fullerton , Garden Grove , Costa Mesa and Santa Ana have all looked similar at bans in the past year, following a decision by the OC Board of Supervisors to ban whippets in unincorporated areas.
“I don’t want to kick the can down the road too far down, but I would like to see it addressed, and the DEA might actually do that for us,” said Mayor Jose Medrano at Monday’s meeting.
The city will revisit potential nitrous oxide and kratom bans at a later date after city staff research the issues and bring forward some proposed ordinances.
Nitrous oxide – also known as “whippets” or “galaxy gas” – is an inhalant used to produce a high recreationally.
Though it can be used as a drug, it is more commonly used as an anesthetic in medical procedures, and for culinary and vehicle performance purposes.
“I would just like to ban it, period, from these smoke shops,” Medrano said at the meeting.
“I don’t want to see smoke shops all of a sudden start carrying Reddi-wip and Cheez Whiz, because in that respect, that’s not good.”
Currently, nitrous oxide is not considered a controlled substance by the Drug Enforcement Agency, but some lawmakers are looking to bring in federal regulations on the inhalant.
A bill introduced in June, titled the Nitrous Oxide Safety Act of 2026 , aims to ban the sale of nitrous oxide nationally, with exceptions for medical, culinary or research purposes.
Abuse of the gas can lead to neurological and psychiatric issues, according to the Yale School of Medicine .
Kratom, a Southeast Asian plant, can be dried and used for either stimulant or sedative effects, depending on its dosage.
The lower dose, found in its natural dried form, is used similarly to caffeine.
However, when a minor component of the leaf, 7-hydroxymitragynine or 7-OH, is synthetically amplified, it can create opioid-like effects in the user.
Advocates say the natural form is a good alternative to addictive prescription pain medication as many local city officials have rolled out bans on the synthetic form.
“I always say this: that natural kratom is an exit from addiction, synthetic 7-OH and its derivatives are an entrance into one,” a resident said during public comment at Monday’s meeting.
The lack of regulation makes it difficult to tell when a kratom product is natural or synthetic, leading to many cities banning the drug entirely, despite many users supporting only a ban of the more dangerous and addictive 7-OH version.
Recently, the DEA temporarily scheduled 7-OH products because of their lack of medical use and potential for addiction .
City officials voted unanimously Monday to extend an emergency moratorium on new smoke shops that has been in place since August of last year.
The city currently has 68 tobacco retailers in the city.
According to a staff presentation on Monday, city staff have been looking at ways to cut down on smoke shops opening up in the city after a recent uptick.
From 2008 to 2018, only six smoke shops were established in La Habra, but from 2020 to 2025, 14 new smoke shops opened.
After several planning meetings since September of 2025, city staff recommended Monday that the city restrict the number of tobacco retailers in the city to 68 and implement a tobacco retailer license.
“When we started this ball rolling some time ago, I know what our mission was, or at least how we saw it at the time, and that was the fact that 68 tobacco shops, smoke shops is too many in La Habra,” said Councilmember Daren Nigsarian at the Monday meeting.
The license would allow existing to continue to sell in newly-established buffer zones: within 1,000 feet of other tobacco retailers or sensitive areas, like schools, public libraries and parks, while those without licenses would have to be outside of buffer zones.
It would also update the city’s code to match existing state laws established in 2019 – raising the age to purchase tobacco products to 21 and prohibiting flavored nicotine products, discounts and vending machines
The licensing program would have a one-year pilot, where no business would be charged a fee to obtain the license.
Additionally, transferring ownership of a tobacco retailer would be severely limited to just one transfer every ten years, given the increase in smoke shops in the city in the past five years.
Ultimately, city officials voted to extend the moratorium on smoke shops, prohibit the establishment of new smoke shops and to introduce a pilot program for a tobacco license, with the allowance of a one-time transfer of ownership.
Councilmember James Gomez said such shops are harmful to kids.
“Bottom line is I just want to protect the youth of our community, as well as we have an abundance of these popping up all over the place, there’s too many smoke shops.”
Michelle King is a Voice of OC Tracy Wood fellow.
You can reach her at mcaitlin254@gmail.com.
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