The FDA Would Like People to Please Stop Drinking Poppers Instead of Energy Shots

The Food and Drug Administration would like to remind everybody that poppers, much like Tide pods, are not “the forbidden shot,” so please don’t drink them.

In a post on Instagram (where else) Wednesday, the FDA said agency officials “continue to receive reports of people dying or being severely injured after consuming poppers that resemble, and often mistaken for, popular energy shots.” Poppers — the slang term for amyl or isopropyl nitrites — are liquids that are sniffed in order to obtain a head rush for partying or sex, long associated with the gay nightclub scene.

“Drinking or inhaling poppers seriously jeopardizes your health,” the post stated, comparing the packaging of the brand Rush (which prominently warns users it is “solvent cleaner” and not to be swallowed) with a bottle of 5 Hour Energy.

This isn’t the first time the FDA has warned against using poppers generally, and specifically expressed concerns that people are dying after mistaking them for energy shots. In the agency’s 2021 warning against poppers, officials accused manufacturers of “packaging and labeling these products in a way that may mislead consumers” into believing they’re meant to be swallowed. 

The agency specifically implicated bottles of Rush, Iron Horse, Sub-Zero, and Jungle Juice, plus the brand Locker Room — which, admittedly, does imply something will be swallowed, just not that. 

In March, the New York City Department of Health issued a similar warning on Twitter, alerting residents that poppers “are often sold in small bottles that look like energy drinks.”

At the risk of sounding like inhalant nerds, poppers have been around and labeled the way they are long before energy shots cluttered up bodega and gas station counters everywhere. Rush in particular has been using its logo and packaging since around 1975, so it’s a little unfair to accuse poppers of emulating a product they predate. You heteros got your fruit-flavored coffee replacement in our sex drug!

But while stories like the FDA describes still appear to be rare, it’s not unheard of for partygoers to make the mistake officials describe. One person died in 2017 after reportedly drinking poppers at a music festival in Australia, and five more were hospitalized after doing so at a Manchester concert in 2015. 

While we still don’t believe poppers made Lena Dunham house a cheesecake, we do believe drinking actual poison will kill you, so stay safe out there, airheads! Read the labels, know your substances, and party responsibly.

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