A Schuylkill County man is facing a criminal charge after police say they caught him doing whippits in a car this week.
Police in Tamaqua say they received a complaint at a little after 2:30 p.m. on Tuesday regarding two men in a gray sedan “huffing balloons” outside a bar on N. Railroad St.
After parking near the area, police say they approached a gray Honda Civic on foot. Through the rear window, police say they could see a man inside inhaling a blue balloon. When the cop was noticed, the officer says the man – later identified as 59-year-old Darron Moyer – quickly deflate the balloon and try to hide it.
Police say they asked the man in the driver seat of the vehicle, Moyer, to step outside. Moyer allegedly admitted to huffing. He then handed the officer a blue balloon from the passenger compartment and while doing so, dropped a popped ballon.
On the back seat of the Civic, police say they noticed a gas cylinder marked “Exotic Whip” laying there. Moyer reportedly admitted to doing whippits. He’s been charged with a third-degree misdemeanor for smelling/inhaling toxic-releasing substances.
In Harrisburg, State Sen. Carolyn Comitta (D-Chester) is circulating a co-sponsorship memo announcing plans to introduce legislation restricting the retail sale of nitrous oxide (N2O) in Pennsylvania.
While currently a third-degree misdemeanor to inhale, possess, or sell N2O for intoxication, Comitta says that penalty hasn’t stopped the gas – widely sold at gas stations, smoke shops, and online – from becoming, by her account, the third-most popular recreational drug among youth.
Her bill would limit retail sales to legitimate medical, culinary, and industrial uses, ban flavored N2O varieties, and require retailers to obtain a signed affirmation that each purchase isn’t for recreational use. It would also direct the state Dept. of Health to create a real-time tracking portal for N2O sales.
Comitta says she was prompted to act after meeting with a Chester County family whose son became addicted to the gas.
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