Wytheville Republican Delegate Anne B. Crockett-Stark has proposed a law that would mandate retailers lock up those cans of "dust off," used to clean computer keyboards.
Del. Crockett-Stark said the legislation is designed to make the cans harder to steal.
The 6th District delegate said three people in her district have died recently after incidents involving "dusting," or using the compressed air in the cans to get high.
Crockett-Stark cited in particular the deaths of sisters Judy Camper and Dennie McAllister in November 2009.
Ashley Paynter is currently serving an eight year prison sentence, after two convictions on involuntary manslaughter.
Paynter stole two cans of "dust off" from the Wytheville Walmart. A crime prosecutors said they have on tape.
Prosecutors said a witness later told police that Paynter got high off one of the cans, just moments before getting behind the wheel.
Investigators found Paynter crossed the center line and hit Camper's pick up truck head on, killing Camper and McAllister.
"It's a really simple bill to make sure no one shoplifts [the dust off cans] and uses it incorrectly," Crockett-Stark said Wednesday afternoon in a phone interview from Richmond.
Crockett-Stark said investigators in the Paynter case found cans of dust off were among the most stolen items at the Wytheville Walmart.
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