City officials are sounding the alarm on a rising public health problem among young people linked to easy access to nitrous oxide. Recreational inhalation of the gas can produce a brief, euphoric high but also carries “serious health risks, including neurological damage and in some cases, death,” said Rachel Roberts, San José’s deputy director of code enforcement, at Tuesday’s meeting.

Council members said the new ordinances respond to a “dramatic rise” in unregulated smoke shops, especially in working-class neighborhoods, and aim to correct what city memos describe as “historically weak” enforcement.

“These two actions … are deeply connected,” said Councilmember Peter Ortiz, whose district includes East San José, the area with the highest concentration of smoke shops in Santa Clara County. “Nitrous oxide is directly connected to these smoke shops because that’s where they’re being sold.”

The concentration of outlets is most acute in East San José. Ortiz cited this year’s Santa Clara County Latino Health Assessment, which shows his district has 6.7 tobacco retail outlets per square mile — “more than double the countywide average.”

“You throw a rock in East San José, you’re going to hit a smoke shop,” Ortiz said, adding that these businesses are “targeting our Latino community.”

The city has placed a moratorium on new tobacco licenses to halt further growth while officials close regulatory loopholes. Roberts reported that, among 101 smoke shop businesses with active complaints, 30 are operating without a tobacco license and 35 have neither a tobacco retail license nor a business tax certificate.

This article was adapted from an original report published on kqed.org. All rights belong to the original publisher.