The TGA wants to ban Poppers in Australia - former AFP head disagrees

Good grief, how stupid. Poppers (or amyl nitrate) are pretty well harmless and non additive. They provide a short rush with a lowering of blood pressure and relaxing of muscles. They've been used for zonks without the sky falling in, so what's the fuckin problem?

Well the Therapeutic Goods Administration has put forward the proposition of banning Poppers by making them a schedule 9 drug; which means it would be as illegal as heroin or ice. Absolutely ridiculous. It would, if it went ahead, turn a large proportion of the gay community into criminals overnight. Not to mention the straight people that use it too.

There is of course much outrage from said gay community over the proposal. You can sign the Change.org petition here against making it illegal.

The ex head of the Australian Federal Police agrees with not banning Poppers. Yes, even the federal police appear to be on our side in this one. *faints*

A former head of the Australian federal police has warned the proposed ban on amyl nitrite – an inhalant used for sex and short recreational highs – would be ineffective.

 The former AFP commissioner Mick Palmer made the comment in response to a question at the National Press Club on Tuesday, appearing alongside drug safety advocate Matt Noffs to urge a harm minimisation approach to the regulation and policing of all drugs.

 The Therapeutic Goods Administration has announced its intention to reclassify amyl nitrite because of “increasing reports of misuse and abuse” of the drug, commonly known as “poppers”, and cases of retinal damage as a side effect of use.

 The move has been opposed – particularly by the LGBTI community – on the basis amyl is not addictive and its effect of dilating the user’s blood vessels helps receptive sexual partners comfortably enjoy sex.

 A similar ban was considered in the United Kingdom but rejected by the conservative government after its advisory body found the use of poppers was “not seen to be capable of having harmful effects sufficient to constitute a societal problem”.

 Asked about the proposed ban, Palmer said he was “not an expert” on amyl nitrite but “I don’t think that a ban would be effective”.

 “No other ban has been effective,” he said. “Why would this one? … Nothing we’ve banned for the illicit drug marketplace has had much difference and this will be no different.”

 Noffs – the chief executive of the Noffs Foundation, Australia’s largest drug and alcohol treatment service provider for young people under 25 – agreed with that response.

 “The simple answer is: we don’t get any control by banning a substance, by prohibiting it,” Noffs told Guardian Australia. The Guardian