All You Need To Know About Alkyl Nitrites (i.e. Poppers)
Poppers make you feel really heady when you’re dancing but you have to keep sniffing it every few minutes because it doesn’t last long. Sometimes it makes you feel a bit dizzy.
Comment from user, 1996.
Poppers
History
Three alkyl nitrites are commonly abused: amyl nitrite, butyl nitrite and isobutyl nitrite. Amyl nitrite was used from 1867 until the earlier part of this century as a treatment for angina attacks. It was supplied in small glass ‘capsules’ (or vitrellae) which were broken open during an attack of angina and the contents inhaled. The nitrites are essentially vasodilators, being converted to the endogenous mediator nitric oxide in vivo.
The popping sound made when vitrellae were broken has given rise to the most popular street name for nitrites: ‘poppers‘. The name has persisted despite the fact that this particular preparation has not been available at street level for many years. Amyl nitrite is currently a ‘pharmacy’ medicine and so supplies in any form are limited. The Medicines Control Agency has proposed that it should be rendered a prescription only drug. This proposal would not apply to other alkyl nitrites. Butyl and isobutyl nitrites are used far more frequently than amyl nitrite at street level because until recently the sale of these nitrites was not tought to have been covered by the Medicines Act. As a consequence, they could be sold freely anywhere without prescription, usually under the guise of ‘room odourisers’ to avoid claiming medicinal or intoxicating properties. However, a test case was recently brought by the Royal Pharmaceutical Society in which it was ruled that the sale of butyl and isobutyl nitrites to the public was illegal in the UK because they were medicinal products. It remains to be seen whether this decision can or will be enforced. Abuse, possession or supply of nitrites does not contravene the Misuse of Drugs Act in the UK but in the USA amyl, butyl and isobutyl nitrites are illegal substances. This has led to the limited, and legal, abuse of propyl nitrites in some states. Read more…
Originally, highly popular in the 1960s and within the gay community. Amyl Nitrate, a.k.a. liquid gold or poppers, became quite popular again in the 1970s disco culture, and the rave culture of the 1980 and 1990s.
