FDA cracks down on popular gay party drug poppers

The party’s no longer popping.The Food and Drug Administration is cracking down on “poppers,” a recreational party drug popular within the LGBTQ+ community, multiple outlets report.Poppers, made of alkyl nitrates, have operated in a legal gray area for decades — masquerading as cleaning solvents and nail polish remover, according to Fast Company — but the inhalants have now seemingly fallen under scrutiny.Double Scorpio, a Texas-based poppers producer, announced this week that it “stopped all operations following a search and seizure” performed by the FDA, according to a statement on their website, which has been wiped of all other information.“We don’t have a lot of information to share but we believe that the FDA has performed similar actions towards other companies recently,” the company wrote, thanking their loyal customers for their “trust” during their eight years in business.While The Post contacted the FDA for comment, a spokesperson for the agency told Fast Company that, due to policy, “the FDA does not comment on possible criminal investigations.”The outlet also reports that multiple other poppers brands have gone silent and scrubbed their internet presence, such as Rush producer Pac-West Distributing (PWD), whose site now only displays the brand logo, and poppers seller Nitro-Solv, which announced on their site they have “ceased operations.”AFAB Industrial — a fellow Rush producer and once an outspoken face of the poppers industry — has gone ghost, too, according to Fast Company.In 2021, AFAB International owner Everett Farr alleged he controlled 75% of the market.“As far as I’m concerned, I sell nail polish remover,” he told Buzzfeed at the time, although he admitted that “without this product, a multitude of gay men cannot have gay sex.”Poppers, sold in a tiny plastic bottle at convenience stores, sex shops and gas stations across the country, cause a euphoric high when sniffed and have muscle relaxant ...