By Sonja Sharp, Los Angeles Times
LOS ANGELES — There’s a rush on Rush.
Stores up and down Santa Monica Boulevard have seen a run on the iconic red and yellow vials this week, as the Food and Drug Administration cracks down on poppers, a product that has long existed in legal limbo.
The active ingredient in Rush and other poppers is alkyl nitrite, a chemical that instantly dilates blood vessels when inhaled, producing a brief but intense feeling of euphoria. It also causes a loosening of smooth muscle tissue, including the anus, an effect that has made it a staple of gay sex for generations.
Although officially banned for human consumption by the FDA, poppers have been sold openly in thumb-sized bottles marketed — with a wink and a nod — as nail polish remover, liquid incense or VHS tape cleaner.
But after the FDA raided a popular brand called Double Scorpio this month, many fear the Trump administration is ending the era of tolerance.
Within days of the Double Scorpio raid, rival brands such as Pig Sweat, Brown Bottle and Dumb Bitch Juice have also become scarce, many retailers said.
“People are calling asking if we’re out,” said Sandy, a cashier at Smoke 4 Less, who gave only her first name because she wasn’t authorized to speak to the press. “They’re stocking up. Right now we’re capped at 10 at a time, just to keep it fair.”
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Similar buying frenzies have been reported around the country, with some worried it’s the opening of a new front in a broader campaign against LGBTQ+ people by the federal government.
“It’s a hit on the community,” said Edward, a clerk at Circus of Books in West Hollywood, who declined to give his last name, citing concerns about the drug’s legality since the FDA raid. “If that’s taken out, they don’t know what’s next.”
Roughly a third of gay men have used poppers, and about 20% have used them in the last three months, according to a 2020 report in the Journal of Psychoactive Drugs and a 2018 study in the Journal of Gay & Lesbian Social Services.
“I describe it to people as a muscle relaxant,” Edward said. “It helps with anal sex for people whose bodies are more sensitive.”
The bottles are popular enough to enjoy pride of place beside the cash register, and top billing on Circus of Books’ Instagram grid. Still, no one asking for poppers is likely to get them.
“You can call it so many things, but you can’t call it poppers,” said Jay Sosa, an associate professor of Gender, Sexuality and Women’s Studies at Bowdoin College in Maine and a scholar of the drug.
Everett Farr III, a longtime maker of Rush-branded nail polish remover, is credited as a pioneer in rebranding. He noted there have been several past crackdowns, and cautioned one FDA raid doesn’t necessarily spell the end.
“This is not my first rodeo,” said Farr. “It’s been pursued religiously before.”
But to many, this moment feels different.
Donald Trump has taken action on a range of gay and transgender issues, blocking gender-affirming therapies for children and military veterans, effectively halting a global AIDS prevention program, and weighing drastic cuts to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s HIV division that would kneecap domestic efforts to end the disease.
“If that’s the weather, then [the crackdown on poppers] is a lightning bolt,” said Adam Zmith, author of “Deep Sniff, a History of Poppers and Queer Futures.” “It’s designed to be intimidating.”
Before he was FDA chief, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. also frequently railed against alkyl nitrites, repeating the conspiracy theory that poppers cause AIDS. That myth has recently gained new traction online, experts said.
The FDA would not answer questions about the Double Scorpio bust last Thursday, nor would it identify which other nitrite makers had been targeted, or when.
But by Monday, major players including Pac-West Distributing and Nitro-Solv had taken down their websites or replaced them with banners saying they no longer operate. Brown Bottle did not respond to calls and emails for comment. Double Scorpio co-founder Julian Bendaña referred questions to his lawyer, who did not immediately respond.
“We don’t have a lot of information to share but we believe that the FDA has performed similar actions towards other companies recently,” Double Scorpio posted on its website.
Amyl nitrites emerged in the 19th century as an early treatment for chest pain and asthma attacks. According to a 2024 paper in the California Law Review, they were made over the counter in the ’60s, then taken back under prescription at a manufacturer’s request after gay nurses helped popularize recreational use.
Amyl was replaced by other alkyl nitrites, sold under many of the same brands still in sex-shop vitrines today. In the ’70s, poppers were a common club drug. Through the ’80s, their use was mostly limited to gay men, thanks in part to the miasma of suspicion that hung over them during the AIDS epidemic. By 1990, they were made illegal for human consumption.
Then in the ’90s, Farr took over the trademark for Rush. Since then, he has become an expert on how to safely market and sell within the confines of the law.
“I manufacture a completely legal product,” he said. “Some people don’t understand the law and how to comply with it.”
Since the pandemic, alkyl nitrites have again surged in popularity among clubgoers, moving from adult stores into head shops and even corner stores.
The Double Scorpio brand has sleek packaging, hip social media presence and LGBTQ-owned bona fides that helped reach new users.
“They really cultivated a queer community,” said Zmith, the “Deep Sniff” author.
Officially sold as “leather cleaner,” Double Scorpio also comes in pumpkin spice flavor.
“Double Scorpio are three different nitrites,” said Edward, the West Hollywood clerk who doubles as a kind of nitrite sommelier. “It’s popular because it’s scented.”
The inhalant has also grown more popular with women, many of whom see it as a safer alternative to cannabis and alcohol, sellers and experts said.
“A lot of girls use it before they go out partying,” Edward said. “It’s a body high, but it doesn’t affect your mentality like marijuana does.”
It’s also widely available, and can be bought with Apple Pay.
“It’s a cheap, easy, legal high,” Zmith said.
But information about what the substance is or how to take it is scant. As it moves into new markets, problems have emerged.
“We’re seeing an increase in ingestion-related poisonings — people drinking poppers,” said Dr. Joseph J. Palamar, an associate professor in population health at NYU Langone Health.
Sniffing alkyl nitrites can cause skin irritation, dizziness, low blood pressure, headaches and other unpleasant side effects. Drinking them — even in tiny amounts — causes a type of blood poisoning that turns victims blue from sudden hypoxia.
“Even a couple drops are enough to make you sick,” Palamar said.
The FDA first warned consumers not to confuse poppers for energy drinks in 2021.
By 2024, the problem was significant enough that the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene began distributing signs saying “DO NOT DRINK POPPERS” to bodegas that sell them.
Still, experts said ingestion poisonings have only really appeared in the last few months, recently enough that federal authorities are unlikely to be responding to them. In raw numbers, they’re small.
By contrast, many public health experts fear a broad crackdown on poppers could force the market underground, diverting users to riskier drugs as it did during previous raids in 2013.
“This is likely to hurt people,” said Dr. Timothy Hall, a psychiatrist and anthropologist specializing in HIV and addiction at UCLA. “Disrupting the supply of poppers in the U.S. is more likely to push people to seek more dangerous alternatives.”
The FDA took the same stance in 1987, Sosa said. Despite widespread evidence that the compound was being used illegally — including as part of a protracted trademark fight over Rush in federal court — the FDA has generally chosen to ignore it.
That policy could now be at an end, many fear.
“People don’t want to touch it,” Zmith said. “A lot of people don’t want to talk about anal sex, and they don’t want to make political statements defending anal sex.”
Amid the uncertainty, some sellers have spiked prices. Still more have preemptively yanked products from their shelves. A clerk at Rough Trade Gear in Silver Lake claimed the store had never sold alkyl nitrites, despite highlights promoting poppers on its Instagram.
The rest are simply selling what they have left in stock.
“I’m waiting for an order,” said Sandy, the Smoke 4 Less clerk. “We’ll see what I get.”
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