LATE NIGHT ON FIGUEROA STREET

It starts with five cars that look like they came from the set of "The
Fast and the Furious." It ends with one teenager burying his eyes into
the gravel as he plays on the edge of consciousness.

It is 12:30 early Saturday morning at the corner of Figueroa and 30th
streets, less than a quarter of a mile north of campus, and more than
a dozen teenagers unload the five street-racer imitations and stand
around in a circle talking, hanging out.

Leaning against the back of their cars, the group of teenagers demand
attention - decked out in throw-back jerseys, ironic trucker caps and
jeans low enough for the belt to get to know the curb.

Over the next 10 minutes more come. Soon, the parking lot has gone
from a dozen friends to a dozen cars and over 40 teens hanging out, or
as one of them put it, "just kickin' it."

With some trunks popped open, the group makes sure they get their
money's worth from the extensive soundsystems and blast music to
showcase their souped-up cars.

What would seem like the prototype for gang activity turns into
nothing more than a group of teenagers using the parking lot as their
personal dance floor.

The group splits up into several circles and the scene jumps from
street racing action flick to one that resembles Eminem's "8 Mile."
The circles bob and sway with each bump and thump of the music as each
soon-to-be hip-hop mogul takes center stage to perform their impromptu
verses.

As the clock approaches 1 a.m., the group's amusement for the night
comes to an end as a Los Angeles Police Department officer walks
around the parking lot yelling, "Let's go!" shining a flashlight and
threatening to impound cars that refuse to move.

The officer, who declined to give his name, said the major problem
that the recurring group causes is simply a disruption of business.

The single LAPD squad car clears out the disrupting group of teenagers
and the parking lot and Yoshinoya's business returns to normal.

But within the next 20 minutes, two more cars arrive and six different
teenagers empty into the parking lot.

What the police officer feared might sometime become the actions of
first group of teenagers is already a weekly ritual for the next group
of cars.

While it first appears that the group is just there to patronize the
restaurant, a young Hispanic man pulls up a four-foot red can to his
mouth. He turns a knob, emitting a hissing sound.

Soon four or five bright red balloons larger than each person's head
materialize within the group. The communal balloons filled with the
gas from the tank that appeared to be filled with a drug that has been
around for a while - nitrous oxide.

Across the street, the scene at the parking lot at the Jack in the Box
tells the same story. Ten to 15 teenagers pass around 10 to 15
balloons, some filled to the limit, some half-filled as the kids take
hits off of the gas.

Nitrous oxide, also known as "Noss" or "whippets," is a fairly common
recreational drug that has been circulating not alone around the local
community, but also on campus.

Torey Ruben, a junior majoring in theatre, said he inhales nitrous
oxide with a group of four or five of his friends once every five
months or so.

According to the Compressed Gas Association's Web site, use of nitrous
oxide can result in death even for first time users.

CGA reports that death can occur if a user experiences sudden,
prolonged exposure to high concentrations of nitrous oxide without
inhaling any clean air in between.

Ruben said he is aware of some of the negative consequences, but that
it does not stop him from inhaling nitrous oxide.

"I heard it kills brain cells," he said. "And it can't be good for the
lungs. Plus it's hyperventilation, so that's probably what kills the
brain cells.

"Yeah, it scares me to not do it every day. It's not a regular thing.
It's more like, finals are over, I can waste a few brain cells."

When inhaling nitrous oxide, Ruben said that he uses something called
a "cracker" to puncture the cartridges and fill a balloon with the
gas.

He then inhales the gas from the balloon and then exhales it back into
the balloon. He repeats the process into the balloon until he cannot
breathe anymore.

Inhaling pure nitrous oxide without any oxygen in this manner is
similar to how some abusers of the gas have died.

Nitrous oxide is mostly used as an anaesthetic in dental offices,
where dentists mix the N2O with oxygen to prevent asphyxiation.

"People on the street don't know they need to mix it with oxygen, so
if they strap on a mask and pass out with the mask on they can
asphyxiate and die," said Ronald Alkana, an associate professor in
molecular pharmacology and toxicology.

After inhaling nitrous oxide, several chemical reactions take place,
one of the most dangerous of which is oxidation, according to CGA.

Oxidation is basically an absorption of oxygen throughout the body,
which results in an acute deficiency of vitamin B12, according to CGA.

A vitamin B12 deficiency results in lower red blood cell counts,
anemia, nerves degenerate and the user can experience a loss of
balance and suffer intellectual deterioration.

If the abuser does not die from excessive inhalation of "whippets," he
can recover from all of the symptoms, but some abusers have reported a
permanent loss of balance, according to CGA.

Ruben has been inhaling nitrous oxide every five months since freshmen
year and has not suffered from any long-term effects, Ruben said.

"You feel dumber for say the next 48 hours," Ruben said. "I definitely
feel stupid, slower the day after. Almost no one will do a whippet
with work to do."

Inhaling "Noss" creates an intense but brief high, Ruben
said.

"You get extremely light-headed," he said. "Extremely dizzy. And then
almost everyone giggles and leans back. For 60 seconds you get this
intense, tingling numbing all over. It then dissipates once you catch
your breath. It doesn't last long, which is why it's addictive."

Ruben said he has seen friends inhale balloons that have two full
cartridges instead of the regular one.

Nitrous oxide can be obtained from several places outside of the
dentist office.

The nitrous oxide cartridges used in conjunction with a "cracker" or a
whipped cream machine, which Ruben got from one of his friends who
works at a Starbucks, can be legally purchased from adult novelty stores.

The other option outside purchasing replacement whipped cream
replacement cartridges is to actually purchase a four-foot tall
canister filled with nitrous oxide.

Nitrous oxide can also be inhaled from full whipped cream
dispensers.

The popularity of whippets on campus is relatively low - less than
alcohol, marijuana and cocaine, Ruben said.

But the group of teenagers who glean their entertainment from the
inside of a balloon in a parking lot from Figueroa Street's clump of
late night fast-food businesses have been there every weekend for the
last two or three months, said Daniel Elisara, a late-night cook for
Yoshinoya.

And every time, Elisara can hear the pressurized hissing from nitrous
oxide canisters from the parking lot as he works the late-night shift
at the 24-hour Yoshinoya.

The first group of teenagers who used the parking lot as dance floor
unlike their drug-abuser counterparts had covered the small parking
lot in front of the Yoshinoya restaurant.

By enjoying their music in the parking lot, the group blocked cars
from entering the lot and a huddle of 20 teenagers congregate in front
of the entrance to the restaurant.

"The police, they do their job," he said. "They speak out and tell
them to leave. I just don't think it can be stopped."

Elisara said the teenagers hanging out in front of the restaurant is
detrimental to business.

The loitering teenagers have become a problem every weekend in the
area over the last two or three months, the LAPD officer said, but he
expects it to become a recurring problem.

Both the officer and Elisara said that they think the situation will
eventually lead to incidents of violence, drinking and drugs.

"It's like a little Crenshaw," Elisara said.

The teenagers come to the parking lot so consistently on weekends that
the Yoshinoya management has even set up a policy telling cashiers and
workers to call the cops if they see teenagers hanging out in front of
the store, said Ricardo Cruz, shift leader for Yoshinoya.

"They stand out there dancing, playing music and I've even heard
stories of girls stripping," Cruz said. "Customers will see that and
not even come in."

Other than discouraging customers, Yoshinoya has also had incidents of
vandalism in the bathrooms and on windows, Cruz said.

Ten minutes after police clear the parking lot, the smaller group
arrives and they begin to take hits off of their cans and balloons of
nitrous oxide.

As the group gleefully enjoys their balloons at 1 a.m., one of their
friends and fellow drug-takers hangs his head, struggling with
consciousness.

He sits on the curb to the side of Jack in the Box, sheltered from
Figueroa Street, studying the gravel so that one can only see the top
of his meticulously groomed curly hair that shines off from the glow
of the dim, yellow streetlights.

He hangs his head and doesn't look up when his friends crack a joke
and all laugh. He sits on the curb trying to look through the gravel
and spitting down into the only world he can see.