Need Whipped Cream? NY Law Requires You To Serve Up ID

NEW YORK — New Yorkers are used to coughing up a photo ID when purchasing items like alcohol and cigarettes. They also need ID to board a plane, drive a car, rent a hotel room or purchase a gun.

Now, New Yorkers can add one more thing to the list of reasons they should never leave their photo IDs at home: purchasing whipped cream.

That's right. In New York state, building a delectable ice cream sundae at home or topping your hot chocolate isn't possible without a photo ID. And that photo ID better show you're 21 years or older, according to a law many in the state might not know exists.

But exist it does, and it's not just to prohibit you from satisfying your sweet tooth.

Last October, legislation sponsored by state Sen. Joseph P. Addabbo Jr., a Democrat from Queens, was passed to combat the use of whipped cream chargers, also known as "whippits, whippets, or whip-its" as a way to get high.

According to a statement released by Addabbo, the chargers are filled with nitrous oxide, also known as "laughing gas," which has euphoric effects and can be highly addictive if used improperly.

"The need to limit the access and sale of whippits first became apparent after receiving constituent complaints about empty canisters on neighborhood streets," Addabbo said in the statement. "Used whippits piling up in our communities are not only an eye sore but also indicative of a significant nitrous oxide abuse problem. This law will help to protect our youth from the dangers of this lethal chemical while helping to clean up our neighborhoods."

The law went into effect on Nov. 25; however, signs enforcing the new law are just now starting to pop up in stores across the state.

Staff at Stewart's Shops in Albany affixed signs to their coolers, warning shoppers that if they want to purchase whipped cream, they will be carded, according to WGAR. Times Union reporters also tested out the law in the Capital Region. According to the newspaper, one Hannaford store required ID at self-checkout while a Price Chopper location did not.

According to the law, any business found in violation of selling whipped cream chargers to people under 21 could be subject to a civil penalty of up to $250 for an initial offense and up to $500 for each subsequent offense.

Even though the bill went into effect nearly a year ago, the lag in enforcement is likely due to issues with the tracking of the law, Kent Sopris, president of the New York Association of Convenience Stores, told the Times Union.

"I think that there is some sort of reporting mechanism that just didn't go the way it was supposed to," Sopris told the newspaper. "We had been tracking the bill last year and when I looked in the bill tracking file, there is just no indication that it was signed."