News / Health

It’s official now – In what’s been described as a ‘huge win’ for campaigners around the country, alkyl nitrates aka ‘poppers’ will not be banned by the Government.

Last week the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD), told MPs that ‘poppers’ – which many gay men use to facilitate enjoyable sex – “do not fall within the scope of the current definition of a ‘psychoactive substance,'” and therefore shouldn’t be included in the Psychoactive Substances Act.

The council, who directly advise the Government on the misuse of drugs, were reporting their findings as part of a wider investigation by the Home Office into the medical implications of alkyl nitrates.

Staffordshire Moorlands MP Karen Bradley, who headed up the investigation, wrote to leading campaigner Mike Freer MP this morning, confirming that “the Government position is aligned with that of the ACMD in considering that ‘poppers’ do not fall within the definition of a psychoactive substance under the Act.”

The letter went on to say: “This brings to an end the review process we were undertaking in parallel to consider the case for a bespoke exemption for the alkyl nitrites group under the Act on the basis of their beneficial health and relationship effects.”

PHOTO: THESUN.CO.UK

Mrs Bradley also wrote to the chair of the ACMD Les Iversen, thanking his department’s swift work investigating ‘poppers’, and explained that “the Government agrees with your advice and interpretation of the definition,” of poppers. Mrs Bradley added that the Home Office will ask law enforcement agencies to be guided by their agreement with the ACMD’s advice, and concluded that “The process to exempt substances from the Act applies only to substances which meet the Act’s definition.”

This confirms officially that alkyl nitrates will no longer be included in the Government’s upcoming legalisation to ban so called ‘legal highs’

Yusef Azad, Director of Strategy at National AIDS Trust, told GT: “It is a great relief to see the Government agreeing with the experts that poppers are not psychoactive and so will not be banned under new legislation.

“The strange appetite within Government for prohibition of poppers was always wrong-headed and very possibly dangerous.

“Let’s hope the Government turn to some real measures to support gay men’s health – PrEP would be a good start.”

During the debate on ‘poppers’, multiple MPs from both sides of the bench expressed their disbelief that a ban was being considered. Former Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg commented that the Government “didn’t want to admit they had got it wrong,” while Labour MP Catherine West commented that it would “criminalise large sections of the LGBT community.”

GT recently spoke to MP Crispin Blunt, who ‘outed’ himself as a ‘poppers’ user during the debate. He said that the ban was a “a particularly poor piece of public policy,” and added that “it brings the law into disrepute.”

Both the Home Affairs Select Committee and the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs had previously advised the Government to exclude ‘poppers’ from the ban, prior to this additional investigation by the Home Office.