Poppers - Overview

Poppers are volatile liquid preparations containing alkyl nitrites as an active ingredient. Initially used in medicine to treat certain heart conditions, poppers are used for recreational purposes due to their euphoric effect, which is accompanied by an increased heart rate and light-headedness.

Grand format
Fioles de poppers

Introduction/Background

Poppers are volatile liquid preparations containing aliphatic or cyclic alkyl nitrites (amyl, butyl, propyl, pentyl, cyclohexyl), packaged in small 10-15 ml bottles (often colourful), which users sniff in order to inhale the vapours. Originally used to treat certain heart conditions, the vials containing these nitrites make a noise (“pop”) when opened, which has given the substance its name.

Poppers are used for recreational purposes due to their brief euphoric effect (for less than two minutes), which is accompanied by an increased heart rate and light-headedness. Poppers are also used for their vasodilating properties which foster sexual activity (intensifying orgasms, facilitating anal intercourse, etc.). The bottle can also be left open in an enclosed space, so the volatile substance can escape from the container.

Production/Supply

For a long time, the sale of poppers was limited to sex-shops, a reflection of a very limited use among certain populations (in this case, the homosexual community), but it has gradually spread to other social spaces, particularly the party scene. The OFDT’s Emerging trends and new drugs (TREND) scheme, which provides localised observations on market dynamics and use trends, has therefore reported an increased accessibility to poppers in nightlife settings since the mid-2010s. The increased presence of poppers in commercial party venues (clubs and night spots) was accompanied by the trivialisation of the product, notably among young people and students.

In France, poppers were banned from sale in 1990, before being partially authorised (with certain types of nitrites remaining banned), then totally banned in 2011, and authorised again in 2013. Today, they are sold in sex-shops, saunas, and sex-clubs, but also in tobacconists, some party venues, and over the Internet. There are numerous trade names used to describe this product family, which are marketed under a variety of brand names.

Use in the adolescent population

Among high school students

In 2022, 8.1% of high school students stated to have already used poppers, with no significant difference between girls and boys. High school years stand out as a significant period in the spread of poppers, the share of teenagers who have tried them going from 5.6% among tenth grade students, to 12.3% among twelfth grade students.

At 17 years old

Among 17-year-olds, in 2022, lifetime use stood at 11.0%. This prevalence has fluctuated strongly over recent decades: it experienced a sudden spike in 2008 (13.7%) then a sharp decline down to 5.4% in 2014, and has since experienced a rebound linked to increasing accessibility.

Young people living in the western regions of mainland France are most likely to have tried poppers, with Brittany leading the pack with a prevalence of 22.5%. On the other hand, this use is more infrequent in the north-west of the territory: only 5.7% of young people in the Grand-Est region have tried poppers.

Use in the adult population

In 2017, poppers were the second most widely experimented illicit substance, among 18-64 year-olds, after cannabis, with a share of 8.7%. It is within the younger age groups that the substance is most often tried. Thereby more than one in seven people aged 18-25 have used them at least once in their lifetime (14.2%). Poppers are used more often by men (11.7%) than by women (5.8%). While use in the last year has been lower (1.5%), it significantly increased among 18-25 year-olds in 2017 (5.5%), following a stable period between 2010 (2.9%) and 2014 (2.5%).

Impacts

Taking them may frequently be accompanied by nausea, vomiting, and headaches. Acute intoxication can lead to low blood pressure, and life-threatening cardiovascular disorders, the risk of which increases when combined with certain drugs such as Viagra®. It can also result in acute and severe anaemia, through altering the red blood cells (methaemoglobinaemia), and cases of a prolonged loss of visual acuity due to retinal damage have been recorded (around ten cases recorded per year). Repeatedly taking them can particularly be the cause of nasal and facial lesions (characteristic yellowish scabs) or even hepatic lesions. Certain users experience a near dependence on the substance for performing sexual acts.

  • Fournier S., Escots S. Les milieux festifs gays : des usages spécifiques ?, In: Costes J.-M. (Dir.), Les usages de drogues illicites en France depuis 1999 vus au travers du dispositif TREND. Saint-Denis, OFDT, 2010, p. 106-113 [in French]
  • Richard D., Senon J.-L., Valleur M. Dictionnaire des drogues et des dépendances. Paris, Larousse, 2004, 626 p.

Legal framework and recent public guidelines

Since June 2013, poppers are legal in France: their use and trade are authorised. However, the legal status of these substances has fluctuated since the 1990s. Thus, in 1990, certain poppers containing pentyl and butyl nitrites or their isomers, were banned in France, and classified as narcotics (decree no. 90274 of 26 March 1990). Others, which were not regulated, as they were not mentioned in the ban (amyl or propyl nitrites for example), remained on sale in certain establishments (sex-shops, saunas, clubs, and gay bars). To rectify this situation, a decree dated 20 November 2007 banned their use: which repealed the 1990 decree, and widened the scope of the ban to all substances falling under the generic term of “poppers”, banning not only the sale and free distribution, but also the manufacture, import, export, supply, possession for the purpose of sale, and free distribution of this product family.

In 2007, the scope of banned substances falling under the term “poppers” was extended to amyl and propyl nitrites and their isomers. However, this decree was revoked by judgement of the Council of State on 15 May 2009 - at the request of the substance’s main distributor in France (Men’s Club), manufacturer (France Conditionnement Création), and numerous associations. This revocation was followed by a new ban on 29 June 2011, prohibiting the sale and transfer of poppers to the public, except for drugs containing aliphatic, cyclic, or heterocyclic nitrites and their isomers, due to their considerable toxicity and psychoactive effects. However, on 3 June 2013, the Council of State revoked this legislative order dated 29 June 2011, authorising the sale of poppers once again.

In other words, the manufacture, possession, sale, and free distribution of poppers was banned between 2007 and 2009, then once again between 2011 and 2013 (except for “drugs containing aliphatic, cyclic, or heterocyclic nitrites and their isomers”). But, as of June 2013, the manufacture and sale of amyl and propyl nitrite-based poppers are no longer banned (judgement no. 352484).

  • Arrêt n°352484 du Conseil d’État du 3 juin 2013 - Annulation de l'arrêté du 29 juin 2011 portant application d'une partie de la réglementation des stupéfiants aux produits contenant des nitrites d'alkyle aliphatiques, cycliques ou hétérocycliques et leurs isomères.
  • Loi n°70-1320 du 31 décembre 1970 relative aux mesures sanitaires de lutte contre la toxicomanie et la répression du trafic et de l’usage de substances vénéneuses