San Francisco Examiner - October 30, 2001
Tanya Pampalone of the Examiner Staff

Alkyl nitrate has now gone from the club to the bedroom.

"It is not a party drug, it is a sex drug," said Alan Brown, spokesman for Electric Dreams Foundation, a harm-reduction organization which educates gays about risks associated with drug use, HIV and other sexually transmitted infections.

"There is a correlation between party drugs and unsafe sex, but if you look at the context in which poppers are used, it may be the Achilles heel of sex drugs -- all reason goes to the wind."

In the bedroom, poppers often meet up with Viagra. The combination in the gay community, experts say, is increasing the risk of HIV transmission and lowering blood pressure to dangerous levels.

According to a Department of Public Health survey of more than 800 gay men who visited an STD clinic, 32 percent said they had used Viagra in the past year, compared with 7 percent of heterosexuals.

Many of the men admitted using Viagra in combination with other drugs, including Ecstasy, methamphetamines and poppers.

"Unlike safer sex, where the rules are simple -- wear a condom -- the guidebook for safer partying keeps getting longer and longer and it has introduced a significant level of complexity to our harm-reduction work," said Brown.

The list Brown and groups like his have to worry about is the ever-growing drug cocktail party list, especially in certain segments within the gay community.

Those who attend "circuit parties" -- highly organized gay club parties -- consume on average of three different types of drugs over a 72-hour weekend, according to a study of 300 gay and bisexual men presented at the International AIDS Conference in Durban, South Africa, last July.

The study also confirmed the experts' suspicions -- the connection between gay men, Viagra, combination drugs and unsafe sex. While most experts agree that the popper/Viagra combination is dangerous and lends to unsafe sexual environments, it is not usually lethal.

Still, the link between Viagra and illicit drugs has sparked other studies since the 1999 circuit party study.

This month the Board of Supervisors approved a $25,000 grant for a University of California study to assess the correlation between Viagra, the risk of HIV transmission and the use of other illicit recreational drugs. But it's poppers that Hank Wilson is concerned about.

"If I had a pebble and it was crack cocaine and called it something else, would they allow me to sell it?" said Wilson, a Survive AIDS advocate who thinks the drugs should be more regulated.

Wilson wonders how it is that alkyl nitrates -- which are widely known for their intoxicating effects -- are readily available as video head cleaner, boot cleaner, leather cleaner, room odorizer and on numerous Web sites that are geared to gay men and sold with names like "Ram" or "Rock Hard."

A liquid drug that is inhaled, alkyl nitrates are used by gay men to relax their bodies. But the danger is not only its inhibitive qualities -- poppers also suppress the immune system.

Wilson has been working on his anti-popper campaign since 1981, back when popper use was prevalent in the gay community. He made sure the community was educated about the connection between AIDS and popper use, and watched as use declined in the '80s.

Now he is watching nervously as the use goes up.

In a survey he conducted earlier this year, he asked 172 gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people under 24 years of age if they knew that poppers were an immunosuppressive. More than 80 percent did not.

"Poppers are fueling the epidemic," Wilson said.

The Board of Supervisors is attempting to address the increase in popper use by cracking down on a long-abandoned point-of-sale law, which first went up back when AIDS was called GRID (Gay Related Immune Deficiency). Last week the board's Public Health and Environment Committee drafted a resolution, asking the district attorney to enforce the point-of-sale warnings for poppers.

"Over time, the enforcement was lax and use had gone up," said Supervisor Mark Leno, who is a co-sponsor of the resolution. "We wanted to make sure the signs are up for younger generation."

Local adult bookstores are being proactive. They have already contacted the health department's STD prevention and control head Jeffrey Klausner, asking him for "suggested wording" for the poppers' point-of-sale message.

But Wilson knows better than to say just say no. His is a harm-reduction message. He just wants people to know what they are getting into. "If you are going to use poppers," he says, "put a rubber on before you sniff."

E-mail Tanya Pampalone at tpampalone@sfexaminer.com

011030
SE011004

AEGiS presents published material, reprinted with permission and neither endorses nor opposes any material. All information contained on this website, including information relating to health conditions, products, and treatments, is for informational purposes only. It is often presented in summary or aggregate form. It is not meant to be a substitute for the advice provided by your own physician or other medical professionals. Always discuss treatment options with a doctor who specializes in treating HIV.

Copyright ©1980, 2001. AEGiS. All materials appearing on AEGiS are protected by copyright as a collective work or compilation under U.S. copyright and other laws and are the property of AEGiS, or the party credited as the provider of the content. .