While the ban on the free sale of poppers was lifted in 2013, the ANSM warns against the risks of poisoning and drug dependence linked to the consumption of this drug.
A little blow in the nostrils and it is giggles guaranteed. On sale on the internet and in sex shops since 2013, poppers, a narcotic originally popular with homosexuals, has now become the drug most consumed by young people aged 18-25 after cannabis, according to a study by the French Observatory for Drugs and Drug Addiction (Ofdt). If the State Council declared it almost harmless to health in 2013, the National Medicines Agency is not of the same opinion. In a communicated published on Tuesday, October 7, it warns against the risks of dependence and poisoning of this product.
Psychic disorders and visual acuity
The ANSM noted 146 serious poisonings linked to the use of poppers, including six deaths, between 1999 and 2011. The agency also declared 34 cases of eye damage. Among the risks mentioned, the ANSM identifies in particular cardiovascular disorders, nausea and vomiting, decreases in visual acuity (generally temporary) and blood and mental disorders. “Since then, new serious cases of poisoning and death have been reported at different levels of vigilance as well as cases of abuse and drug dependence,” the agency said.
Sales ban lifted in 2013
His warning goes against statements made by the government last year about the dangers of poppers. Indeed, the ban on the sale of narcotics in force since 2011 was suspended in 2013 by the Council of State. At the time, the toxicity of the product was estimated as “low at the usual inhaled doses.” “The Council had therefore declared that” the Minister of Health could not decide to prohibit their sale. A decision which had triggered a wave of protest among the health authorities, in particular the Ofdt, which pointed to the same risks as those recalled by the ANSM today.
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