There’s a rush.
The top and bottom of Santa Monica Boulevard stores run this week in iconic red and yellow vials, as the Food and Drug Administration cracks down on Poppers, a product that has long been in legal sphere.
The active ingredient in Rush and other poppers is alkyl nitrites, a chemical that immediately expands blood vessels upon inhalation, creating a short but intense sensation of euphoria. It also causes loosening of smooth muscle tissue, including the anus. This is an effect that has become a staple of gay sex for generations.
Although officially prohibited due to human consumption by the FDA, poppers are openly sold in thumb-sized bottles, such as nail polish removers, liquid incense, and VHS tape cleaners, sold with winks and nods.
However, after the FDA attacked a popular brand called Double Scorpio this month, many fear that the Trump administration will end an era of tolerance.
Within days of the double corpio attack, rival brands such as pig sweat, brown bottles and stupid bitch juice have also become scarce, many retailers said.
“People ask if we’re out,” said Sandy, cashier at Smoke 4 Less. “They’re stockings. Now we’re capped at 10 at a time to keep it fair.”
Similar purchase frenzy has been reported nationwide, with some worried about the opening of a new front with a wider federal campaign against LGBTQ+ people.
“It’s a hit for the community,” said Edward, circus clerk for West Hollywood books and scribes at West Hollywood, citing concerns about drug legality since the FDA attack. “If it’s taken out, they don’t know what’s next.”
According to a 2020 report from the Gay Active Drugs Journal of Psychoactive Drugs and a 2018 study in the Journal of Gay & Lesbian Social Services, about a third of gay men use poppers, with about 20% in the past three months.
“I’ll explain it to people as a muscle relaxant,” Edward said. “It helps with anal sex for people with more sensitive bodies.”
The bottle is popular enough to enjoy the pride of the place next to the cash register, and has the best billing in the circus on the book’s Instagram grid. Still, no one who wants poppers can get them.
“You can call it so many things, but you can’t call it a popper,” said Jay Sosa, an associate professor of gender, sexuality and women’s studies at Boudin University in Maine and a drug scholar.
Everett Fur III, a longtime manufacturer of Rush brand’s manicure remover, has been praised as a pioneer in the rebranding process. He noted that there have been some past crackdowns and warned that FDA raids would not necessarily end one.
“This isn’t my first rodeo,” Far said. “It has been pursued religiously before.”
But for many, this moment feels different.
Trump addresses a variety of gay and transgender issues, block gender-affirming treatments for children and military veterans, effectively suspend global AIDS prevention programs, weigh dramatically the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s dramatic cuts, and characterizes the nation’s HIV sector to end disease.
“If that’s the weather [the crackdown on poppers] “It’s lightning,” says Adams Miss, author of “Deepsniff, the Future History of Poppers and Queer.” “It’s designed to be intimidating.”
Before he became FDA chief, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. also frequently opposed alkyl nitrites, repeating conspiracy theories that caused Popper AIDS. The myth recently gained new traction online, experts said.
The FDA will not answer questions about the double corpio bust last Thursday. They also do not specify when other nitrite manufacturers have been targeted or targeted.
But by Monday, major players, including PAC-West Distributing and Nitro-Solv, had either removed their website or replaced it with a banner saying they were no longer running it. The brown bottle did not respond to calls or emails due to comments. Julian Bendaña, co-founder of Double Scorpio, introduced the question to a lawyer who didn’t respond immediately.
“We don’t have much information to share, but we believe the FDA has recently taken similar actions against other companies,” Double Scorpio posted on its website.
Amyl nitrite appeared in the 19th century as an early treatment for chest pain and asthma attacks. According to a 2024 paper in the California Legal Review, they were made at counters in the 60s and reclaimed under a prescription at the manufacturer’s request after gay nurses popularized recreational use.
Amyl has been replaced by other alkyl nitrogens that are still sold under many of the same brands in Sex Shop Vitrine today. In the 70s, poppers were a common club drug. Throughout the 80s their use was limited to gay men thanks to the suspected Maiasma that had caught them during the AIDS epidemic. By 1990 they were illegal for human consumption.
Then, in the 90s, Fur took over the trademark for Rush. Since then, he has become an expert in how to sell and sell safely within the law.
“I’m making a completely legal product,” he said. “Some people don’t understand the law or how to follow it.”
Since the pandemic, alkyl nitrites have become a hit again among club participants, moving from adult stores to head shops and even corner stores.
The Double Scorpio brand has sophisticated packaging, hip social media presence, and authentic LGBTQ-owned things to help reach new users.
“They have nurtured a truly strange community,” said Zmith, author of “Deep Sniff.”
Officially sold as a “leather cleaner,” Double Scorpio also comes with a pumpkin spice flavor.
“Double corpio are three different nitrites,” said Edward, West Hollywood Clerk, who doubles as a kind of nitrite sommelier. “It’s popular because it smells.”
Inhalants are also becoming more popular among women, many of which view them as a safer alternative to cannabis and alcohol, sellers and experts said.
“A lot of girls use it before they go out to the party,” Edward said. “It’s body height, but it doesn’t affect your way of thinking like marijuana.”
It is also widely available and can be purchased with Apple Pay.
“It’s cheap, easy and legally high,” Zumis said.
However, there is little information about what the substance is or how to take it. As we move to new markets, problems are occurring.
“We’ve seen an increase in intake-related addiction. People are drinking poppers,” said Dr. Joseph J. Palamar, associate professor of population health at NYU Langone Health.
Sniffing alkyl nitrites can cause skin irritation, dizziness, hypotension, headaches and other unpleasant side effects. Drinking them, even in small amounts, causes the type of blood poisoning that turns victims blue from sudden hypoxia.
“Even a few drops are enough to make you sick,” Paramar said.
The FDA first warned consumers not to confuse energy drinks with poppers in 2021.
By 2024, the issue was important enough that the New York City Department of Health and Mental Health had begun distributing it to bodegas, which sells signs that say “don’t drink poppers.”
Still, experts said that intake addiction has only actually appeared in the past few months, and it is unlikely that federal authorities will deal with them recently. In raw numbers, they are small.
In contrast, many public health experts fear that widespread crackdowns on poppers could force markets underground and divert users to more risky drugs, just as they did during the previous raid in 2013.
“This is likely to hurt people,” said Dr. Timothy Hall, a psychiatrist and anthropologist specializing in HIV and addiction at UCLA. “Disrupting popper supply in the US is likely to encourage people to seek more dangerous options.”
The FDA took the same stance in 1987, Sosa said. Despite extensive evidence that the compound was being used illegally, the FDA has generally chosen to ignore it as part of the long-term trademark fight over the rush in federal court.
That policy could now be over, many fears.
“People don’t want to touch it,” Zumis said. “Many people don’t want to talk about anal sex, so they don’t want to make political statements defending anal sex.”
Amidst uncertainty, some sellers are spikeping prices. Additionally, products are preemptively yank from the shelves. A clerk at Silver Lake’s Rough Trade Gear claimed that despite highlights promoting Popper on Instagram, the store never sold alkyl nitrogen.
The rest is simply selling what they have left in stock.
“I’m waiting for an order,” said Sandy, a smoke 4 clerk. “You’ll see what I get.”
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