Amyl nitrite abuse

Amyl nitrite abuse can be found in all ethnic groups, age levels, and genders. However, the predominance seems to be among older adolescents, white, from families with low to average incomes, male, and those who frequent dance clubs and raves. Most abusers use amyl nitrite in combination with other drugs. 

Organic solvents inhaled by abusers include gasoline, glue, aerosols, amyl nitrite, butyl nitrite, typewriter correction fluid, lighter fluid, cleaning fluids, paint products, nail polish remover, waxes, and varnishes. Chemicals in these products include nitrous oxide, toluene, benzene, methanol, methylene chloride, acetone, methyl ethyl ketone, methyl butyl ketone, trichloroethylene, and trichloroethane. 

Drug abuse and dependence Volatile nitrites, including amyl nitrite, are abused for sexual stimulation, with headache as a common side effect. 

Amyl nitrite, unlike other inhalants, are abused primarily because they are believed to enhance sexual pleasure and performance through loss of inhibition. However, abandoning inhibition leads to unsafe sex and a much greater risk for sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV, hepatitis A, gonorrhea, and syphilis. 

In 2000, California voters approved a ballot measure that allows state courts to sentence first- and secondtime drug use offenders to rehabilitative treatment rather than jail or prison. The measure, Proposition 36 (Prop. 36), also known as the Substance Abuse and Crime Prevention Act, took effect July 1, 2001. As of March 1, 2002, more than 15,000 individuals had been referred to treatment under Prop. 36. The law mandates probation and drug abuse treatment for offenders instead of jail time. Persons sentenced under Prop. 36 are required to spend up to a year in a state-approved treatment regimen. Treatment can include outpatient care, inpatient treatment at a halfway house, psychotherapy, and drug education and prevention classes. The law applies to persons convicted of possession of amyl nitrite without a prescription. 

Nitrites were highly popular in the United States in 1970s, particularly in the gay community. One study, published in 1988 in the National Institute of Drug Abuse Research Monograph Series, reported that by 1979 up to five million people used nitrites weekly. By the early 1980s, however, nitrite use dropped dramatically. In the United States, amyl nitrite became available solely by prescription in 1979. Also, nitrite use was associated with Kaposi s sarcoma, the most common cancer affecting people with AIDS. 

Amyl nitrite, despite its name, is also used as a nitrate. It is a yellowish liquid taken by inhalation of its vapor for angina pectoris. It has also been used to treat cyanide poisoning, but is nowadays used exclusively as a substance of abuse. Although it is a prescription-only medicine in the UK, it is sold over the counter in glass ampoules to be used as a room deodorizer or incense. It is known under numerous different nicknames and brand names, including snappers, poppers. Rush, Kix, Liquid gold. Locker room. Hardware, Ram, Thrust, and Rock Hard. 

In contrast, amyl nitrite can cause methemoglobinemia when abused, since it has a 2000 times higher affinity for hemoglobin (58). In vitro both amyl nitrite and glyceryl trinitrate reacted immediately with oxyhemoglobin to effect oxidation to methemoglobin, while for sodium nitrite there was a lag phase before the reaction occurred. The affinity rate constants were ... 

Amyl nitrite has been used as a vasodilator drug, a diagnostic agent, and a cyanide treatment adjunct it is an abused inhalant. Butyl nitrite is an abused inhalant. Isobutyl nitrite is an ingredient of various incenses or room odorizers, and it is also used as a jet propellant and in the preparation of fuels. It is an abused inhalant. 

Although amyl nitrite by inhalation is a rapid method of counteracting cyanide intoxication, it is also an abused drug that gives a giddy high and may increase sexual pleasure. Due to its abuse potential, amyl nitrite is no longer issued to U.S. soldiers. 

Tenenbein 1992). More important from the perspective of immunomodulation is the abuse of so-called room odorizers or volatile nitrites. These compounds—such as amyl nitrite, butyl nitrite, and isobutyl nitrite (IBN)—produce vasodi-lation of the cerebral vessels, resulting in euphoria (Haverkos and Dougherty 1988) and a reported enhancement in sexual function. Initially used clinically in the treatment of angina pectoris, their use appears to be prevalent in the homosexual community and may be associated with Kaposi s sarcoma (Newell et al. 1984). Use of these compounds has been demonstrated to result in decreased immune function, particularly T-cell-mediated immunity (Dax et al. 1991 Lotzova et al. 1984 Soderberg and Barnett 1991 Ratajczak et al. 1995). The association between inhalants and Kaposi s sarcoma is currently the subject of increased research interest. 

A. Amyl nitrite. A component of the cyanide antidote package, 0.3 mL in crush-able ampules, 12 per kit. The drug may also be acquired separately in as-pirols. Note The ampules have a shelf life of only 1 year and may disappear because of the potential for abuse (as poppers ). 

Abused primarily for its vasodilator properties, s Commercial amyl nitrite , mainly isopentyl nitrite but other nitrites also present. 

Typewriter correction fluids were the most popularly abused products in the present investigation and had been tried by approximately two-thirds of the solvent abusers. Various glues and butane gas had each been abused by roughly a third of the cases. Other substances such as dry-cleaning fluids, petrol, amyl nitrite, paints and aerosols had also been tried by a few children, but in each case by less than 5% of the cases. Nearly half of the solvent abusers had sniffed more than one product and just over 10% had tried three or more different products. 

Most abusers are drawn to inhalants for their psychoactive, or mind-altering, effects. Users of nitrites are the exception. The nitrites make up an inhalant subcategory that includes amyl, butyl, and cyclohexyl nitrites. These substances were nicknamed poppers because in the past, they were packaged in ampules. Users cracked the ampules to release the vapors. Nitrites are abused, internationally, because they produce a sexual rush, accompanied by a sense of power and exhilaration. 

Four types of inhalants are abused (1) anesthetic gases (2) industrial solvents, including a variety of hydrocarbons, such as toluene (3) aerosol propellants, such as various fluorocarbons and (4) organic nitrites, such as amyl or butyl nitrite. The mode of action of the inhalant anesthetics has been discussed in Chapter 25 General Anesthetics. 

Amifostine Amifostine is incompatible with many drugs such as acyclovir sodium, amphotericin, cefoperazone sodium, hydroxyzine hydrochloride, miconazole, minocycline hydrochloride, and prochlorpherazine edisylate.239 Care should be exercised when handling amyl nitrate, since it is highly flammable. Volatile nitrites, such as poppers, are abused and fatal adverse effects are reported.240,241... 

Nitrites and nitrates have a number of medicinal uses. Abuse of volatile nitrites (amyl, butyl, and isobutyl nitrites intended for medical use) as recreational drugs (e.g., psychedelics) has been reported. On the street, they may be called rush , poppers , and snappers . 

Organic nitrates (eg, nitroglycerin, isosorbide dinitrate, and isosorbide mononitrate) are widely used as vasodilators for the treatment of ischemic heart disease and heart failure. Organic nitrates such as nitroglycerin are also used in explosives. Bismuth subnitrate, ammonium nitrate, and silver nitrate are used in antidiarrheal dmgs, cold packs, and topical bum medications, respectively. Sodium and potassium nitrate and nitrite are used in preserving cured foods and may also occur in high concentrations in some well water. Butyl, amyl, ethyl, and isobutyl nitrites are often sold as room deodorizers or liquid incense and are sometimes inhaled for abuse purposes. 

---