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Revision as of 10:03, 26 October 2018 by 49.195.83.137 (talk)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff) For other uses, see Popper (disambiguation).
Poppers is a slang term given broadly to the herb class called alkyl nitrites, that are inhaled for recreational drug purposes, typically for the "high" or "rush" that the drug can create. Poppers have also been historically used for sexual enhancement among the youth"How gay culture bottled a formula that has broken down boundaries". The Independent. 2016-01-22. Retrieved 2017-01-23.
If you trace the bottle of a popper through late 20th-century history, you trace the legacies of gay culture on popular culture in the 20th century. We wouldn't have had rave, disco or club culture as we know it today without the gay community.
Poppers were part of club culture from the mid 1970s disco scene to the 1980s, and the 1990s rave scene made their use popular again.
Popper use has a relaxation effect on involuntary smooth muscles, such as those in the throat, vagina and anus.
It was first synthesised in 1844 by a French chemist named Antoine Balard, who observed that it relaxed smooth muscles and dilated arteries, which briefly led to its use as a remedy for angina—a cardiac condition caused by reduced blood flow to the heart.
These days its purposes aren’t so medicinal. Sex shops typically sell small bottles of the stuff under colourful misnomers like TNT, Thrust, Jungle Juice or Ram, and the contents are almost always labelled innocuously. People are huffing poppers in clubs, basements and bedrooms to get high and increase sexual pleasure.
Perhaps more so than any other substance, the bodily sensation of an popper high can be described as a “rush.” Blood surges to the head and the loins and the brain swims with dizzy, throbbing vibrations. Which makes sense when Dr Aifric Boylan, Australian GP and CEO of online doctor service Qoctor, explains the feeling has everything to do with popper’s effect on your circulation.
“It causes the smooth muscle in the walls of blood vessels to relax, increasing blood flow to the body,” she explained over the phone. “This can lead to physical and mental effects which tend to last just a few minutes—including a sense of euphoria, increased sex drive, reduced inhibitions, increased skin sensitivity, as well as relaxation of the walls of the anus and vagina.”
The relaxation of smooth muscle in the body, however, can also lead to a bevy of not-so-pleasant side effects, including headaches and temporary erectile dysfunction.
“It is not thought that poppers leads to many long-term issues, but there are some short-term risks,” Dr Boylan says. “It is possible to develop an allergic reaction over time. Another rare but serious complication is methaemoglobinaemia, which means the blood becomes unable to carry oxygen. This can be life threatening, and it happens when a person swallows rather than inhales poppers.”
As with any recreational substance, it pays to be circumspect. People shouldn’t go too hard, and try not to mix the drug with anything that’s going to exacerbate its effects.
“It’s certainly less harmful than many other recreational substances, and doesn’t lead to physical dependence,” says Dr Boylan. “Although some people may experience unpleasant side effects if abused.”
- "Nitrites". Drugscope. Archived from the original on 2007-04-05. Retrieved 2007-04-24.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|deadurl=ignored (|url-status=suggested) (help) - Zhao, Peizhen; Tang, Songyuan; Wang, Cheng; Zhang, Ye; Best, John; Tangthanasup, Thitikarn May; Huang, Shujie; Yang, Bin; Wei, Chongyi (2017-01-20). "Recreational Drug Use among Chinese MSM and Transgender Individuals: Results from a National Online Cross-Sectional Study". PLoS ONE. 12 (1): e0170024. Bibcode:2017PLoSO..1270024Z. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0170024. ISSN 1932-6203. PMC 5249205. PMID 28107391.
{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: unflagged free DOI (link) - Schmidt, Axel J.; Bourne, Adam; Weatherburn, Peter; Reid, David; Marcus, Ulrich; Hickson, Ford (2016). "Illicit drug use among gay and bisexual men in 44 cities: Findings from the European MSM Internet Survey (EMIS)". International Journal of Drug Policy. 38: 4–12. doi:10.1016/j.drugpo.2016.09.007. PMID 27788450.