New legislation before the UK Parliament is set to ban the sale of ‘poppers’ (amyl nitrate), eliciting a punishment of up to seven years in jail.

Gay Star News have reported that UK Home Office Minister Mike Penning will include amyl nitrates under new legislation that prohibits the sale of “legal highs”.

The committee overseeing the bill has argued that amyl nitrate is “not seen to be capable of having harmful effects sufficient to constitute a societal problem.”

‘Boyz’ magazine editor David Bridle spoke at a meeting with Minister Penning, which also hosted members of the National AIDS Trust and LGBTI activists, saying it “made sense for poppers to be regulated under current sex shop licensing and therefore continuing to be available to over 18 gay men as the sex tool they have been for over 30 years.”

Minister Penning says the bill will put an end to the cat and mouse game of outlawing new drugs as they appear.

“The bill will deliver on the Government’s commitment for a blanket ban on the production, supply and importation of harmful psychoactive substances, which have contributed to the unnecessary and tragic deaths of 129 people in Britain last year.”

Gay Star News report that the last UK death linked to amyl nitrate was in 2013, where two people were declared dead with myriad substances in their body, which happened to include poppers.

The UK ban will also include salvia and nitrous oxide – while nicotine, caffeine and alcohol remain legal.

OIP Staff