Nitrous Mafia Bringing Hippie Crack to a Concert Near You

A nitrous oxide fan at last year's Bonnaroo. (John Del Signore/Gothamist)

For decades now, that cringe-worthy hissing sound heralding the presence of nitrous oxide dealers has permeated the parking lots of jam band shows. Neo-hippie burnouts and preppy Trustafarians alike line up to buy balloons filled with the gas for $5 a pop, then drop to the pavement, hit their heads, and start liking String Cheese Incident. It's a revolting scene, one that's now become familiar to concertgoers in NYC, where the "Nitrous Mafia" brazenly sets up shop on the sidewalk outside such venues as Terminal 5, The Music Hall of Williamsburg, and Brooklyn Bowl. How do they get away with it?

This week's loooong Village Voice cover story takes a grotesque look inside their booming business. The DEA doesn't consider nitrous a controlled substance and doesn't regulate it, so it falls under the purview of the FDA, which regulates it as a food-grade propellant, medical-grade gas, and prescription drug. It's illegal to purchase and sell nitrous for the purposes of getting high, but most states, including New York, treat it as a misdemeanor. And as the Voice reports, it isn't even on some cops' radar; some of them think it's helium, which may explain why we saw an NYPD car cruise right on by a crowd of nitrous buyers and sellers outside the Music Hall of Williamsburg last year.

There's now some push-back in the jam band scene against the dealers, who are seen as more parasitical than your average goo ball-slinging hippie. "I began noticing that all the people selling balloons weren't nice hippie kids trying to go from show to show," one fan, Justin Heller, tells the Voice. "It became clear that they were a bunch of thugs trying to make money." Another says, "These guys don't even know who Jerry Garcia is, and they never will." One EMT remarks, "I've watched so many young people crack their heads and faces open that I have personally stopped providing emergency first aid." The stuff is called "hippie crack" because of its addictive qualities (and brief high), and the fields of every concert festival are typically littered with balloons, "like bullet shells on a battlefield," as one head put it.

Yep, it's a war out there, and the Nitrous Mafia isn't afraid to fight back with knives and guns; reports of nitrous dealers beating up security guards and other dealers in turf wars are legion. Their main enemy is The Wrecking Crew, a loose affiliation of Dead Heads who recently scored a minor victory by kidnapping one of the Mafia's nitrous tanks and filming a YouTube hostage video, during which the precious gas was released into the open air like the blood of so many hippie infidels.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By John Del Signore in News on July 7, 2010 11:30 AM

Comments [rss]

El Izzy

Trustafarians and hippies, eh? Good luck with all that.

retrovertigo

I have had a lot of experience in the past year or so with hippie kids who sell nitrous and in the world of nitrous mobs and it's dark stuff. One of the kids i traveled with lost sensation in his hands and feet and it was moving towards his chest. He was prescribed vitamin B supplements.

Festivals are really cracking down on nitrous dealing because the "murder" incident at the Vibes last year and the general air of violence that surrounds nitrous. There's very little tolerance for it right now, especially at smaller festivals here in NY.

Dolomite

"This can lead to neuralgia and permanent loss of sensation or even bladder control."

Ironically, so can a 35-minute Tweezer jam.

jles

+1

r1b2

If only their mommies had hugged them more they wouldn't need to turn to drugs.

Filthy hippies.

Otto Valentine

Nitrous is not as innocuous as it may seem. It can cause vitamin b deficiencies that lead to swelling in your spinal column. This can lead to neuralgia and permanent loss of sensation or even bladder control. Many tanks that are floating around in the hands of these low rent gas hustlers aren't even intended for medical use and have contained gases used for welding.

kafkask

God, let them have their drugs. The quicker they die, the better I'll sleep.

Crack your heads, you pieces of hippie shit!

ahem.

barryap

Of course JDS was at Bonnaroo.

henryhamilton

Gothamist narco squad strikes again. Excuse me. Cheesedicks. Everybody DOES think it's helium, until now that is. You guys are like little Cindy from the FUCKING Brady Bunch. Tattletales. Do you guys all have blonde pigtails, and adorable lisp's. Say Nitruth Oxthide for me.

Rocknrope

Babytalk, babytalk. It's a wonder you can walk.

forrealz?

Is THIS why there are little balloons littered all over the place in Brooklyn?

A couple of months ago my small dog got really sick - like almost died - and then passed some balloons that he picked up on the street. Now my conspiracy theory is that nitrous oxide could have poisoned him.

Dolomite

The likelihood is slim that there was any gas in these balloons when your dog got to them ... and if there was, it would likely have escaped into the atmosphere almost immediately after the dog got to them.

hotstepper

is there anything phallic about the way that upstanding unshorn lad is holding his items?

eh, maybe i'm just high, man...

emilydickinson

What happened to the good old days where we just bought Whippits from kitchen supply stores on Canal Street? Damn kids ruin everything!

Aveais Essex

Nitrous is appropriate every now and again, like, say, at the end of a concert. And believe it or not, I say that as neither a Neo-hippie burnout NOR a preppy Trustafarian!

Now, your writing style, which can best be described as "Gawker-ripoff + ignorance dollop"...not so good stuff.

Finally: The stuff is called "hippie crack" because of its addictive qualities (and brief high)

Um, no. Just no.