The Real Deal on Jungle Poppers: What They Are and What Are the Effects?
As much as I hate to admit it, Australia’s nightlife is not as wild and crazy as I thought it was before I visited parts of Eastern Europe and Amsterdam, where recreational drugs are not as strictly controlled as in other parts of the world. While in Amsterdam, I was fortunate enough to meet a group of young, cool people in a club who introduced me to something I never knew existed before – poppers.
We were out in a club when I saw one of the guys taking out a small bottle from his pocket – inhaling from it and passing it around. When it was my turn to do the same, I had a confused look on my face ’cause I really did not know what was in the bottle. They started laughing and told me to take a hit. In my drunken state I obliged and did it. What followed was totally unexpected and unaccounted for. I got really, really high…just for a few minutes, that is. A wave of warmness, fuzziness and euphoria hit me hard and went away before I even knew it.
Naturally, the next day I was really intrigued what was in the bottle, so I decided to do some research. The only thing I knew was the name on the bottle which read “Jungle Poppers” or something along those lines. After some quick research, I found out it was actually Jungle Juice poppers, which contains chemicals known as alkyl nitrates.
Alkyl nitrates were originally used as a medication for heart disease, but became extremely popular in the gay community in the eighties, which caused them to be banned because the war on drugs, right? This made Jungle poppers never see the light of day for a few decades outside of the gay scene, but they never really went away completely.
Nowadays, a lot of people in the club scene use them as a recreational drug, and apparently, they make for great sex stimulants. While I’ve personally never had sex while on them (looking to change that sometime soon), I’ve read a lot of experiences, and almost all of them are extremely positive. Amyl nitrates increase blood flow, meaning men get stronger erections. Plus they also relax the muscles, meaning women get to enjoy anal much more.
I was saddened by the fact that poppers are illegal to sell in Australia, but you can still buy them online and from sex shops, where they’re labeled as nail-polish removers, room odorizers and video-head cleaners to bypass restrictions. You don’t have to worry much about the police going after you for using either, since they’re the least of their problems. Just make sure that wherever you use them, you do that subtly.