FAIRVIEW HEIGHTS, Ill. – A business owner faces charges after police say his stores in Collinsville and Fairview Heights, Illinois, were selling nitrous oxide.

High Life in Fairview Heights was still open for business Tuesday after charges were announced against its owner. Zach Yinger is facing multiple charges of possession with intent to deliver nitrous oxide, a product that can be used to get high.

“It tends to ebb and flow through the world of substance use and misuse particularly among young people,” Prevent+Ed Executive Director Jenny Armbruster said.

It is not Yinger’s only store to be searched in the past month. Another one in Collinsville was also raided.

Court records show police seized more than 40 tanks of nitrous oxide, thousands of nitrous oxide chargers, and metal crackers. Fairview Heights police say the metal crackers can be used to break the chargers and make it easier for misuse.

“The way it works in the brain is really slowing down those receptors and those brain cells which is really dangerous. It can lead to people being unconscious and passing out. It can lead to some really profound effects if it’s overused,” Armbruster said.

Nitrous oxide is a legal product, but under Illinois law, if you use or sell it with the intent to get high, that is a crime. Yinger’s attorney, Ed Unsell, said Yinger has never even stepped foot in these stores.

“There are numerous other establishments selling the exact same product. It’s a legal product. It’s not banned,” Unsell said.

Fairview Heights police Chief Steve Johnson sent a statement saying,

“The illegal sale of nitrous oxide under the guise of legitimate business practices will not be tolerated.”

For drug prevention programs and resources through Prevent+Ed, click here.