How Safe Are They?

That's just one slut's opinion, of course. Other people find the poppers rush disorienting, unpleasant, and headache producing.

And as is the case with so many things that can make you feel good using poppers is not awfully good for you, though just how not good is a matter of debate.

People with heart disease, blood pressure problems, glaucoma, and liver disease should stay away; in any of these cases, serious damage, up to and including death, may result. And the combination of Viagra and poppers can be deadly, too: who wants to be a stiff stiff?

Back in the early days of the AIDS epidemic, some folks suspected poppers might be the cause of Kaposi's sarcoma, perhaps of AIDS itself. The KS link is now pretty well disproved. There is evidence that using poppers does lower immune function, though the damage is undone in at most a few days. People with impaired immune function should certainly think twice before taking a hit, but the idea that amyl use causes permanent immune-system damage is speculative at best.

As with the use of other recreational drugs, when it comes to poppers, moral issues can overshadow good medicine. The "Just Say No" crowd views poppers as a menace. But Dr. Andrew Weil, author of From Chocolate to Morphine, calls amyl nitrite "one of the safest drugs in medicine." Weil, whose approach to drug use centers on harm reduction rather than outright prohibition, explains that "when inhaled, amyl nitrite breaks down quickly and leaves the body easily."