The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has reportedly targeted a manufacturer of poppers, an inhalant drug that has gained increasingly mainstream popularity as an adjunct to clubbing and sexual activity.
The drug has long been sold in convenience stores under a legal loophole. Double Scorpio, an Austin-based poppers manufacturer, issued a statement on its website Thursday stating that the company had “stopped all operations following a search and seizure at our offices by the FDA.” The reported raid comes after Robert F.
Kennedy Jr. took the helm of the U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the FDA. Kennedy, an environmental lawyer with a history of drug addiction and false claims about vaccines in particular, has erroneously suggested that poppers and other drug use, not HIV, cause AIDS. However, what led to the reported raid or whether Kennedy had any knowledge of it is unclear.
The news about the FDA search and seizure was first released by Fast Company , which reported based on anonymous sources that a broader crackdown was underway. When asked about whether the FDA is cracking down on any manufacturers of poppers, Amanda M. Hils, an FDA spokesperson, said the agency, as a matter of policy, “does not comment on possible criminal investigations.
” HHS did not respond immediately to a request for comment. Nor did Double Scorpio. A representative of another company, The Popper King — which is based in Buffalo, New York, and brands its website .