Poppers Ban Shuts Gay Chain Priape

[Lucky]

And you went there for the clothes! The Priape chain of gay merchandise stores has shuttered. Although deeply in debt to start with, it could not continue if the highly profitable amyl nitrates were not bought by its popper-happy customers

Poppers cost pennies to make, smell horribly, burn easily, and apparently keep gay merchants alive. According to gay Canadian magazine Extra!, Priape didn't have much of a chance after health advocates hit on poppers.

"A fixture of gay villages, Priape says it has been struggling since Health Canada demanded retailers take poppers off the shelves.

In June, just before the Pride season, Health Canada issued a warning asking retailers to stop selling and distributing alkyl nitrites or, as they are more commonly known on the party scene, the popular drug “poppers.”

“For us that represented a huge amount of sales and profit, so that’s what triggered it all,” Leblanc says. “It’s not so much percentage of sales, but the gross profit it brought in, and proportionately it was very significant.” Extra! reports. 58 employees are now unemployed, and numerous creditors, including many gay businesses, will be short almost 3/4 of a million (apparently Canadian) dollars.

I hate poppers for many reasons, yet I used them for quite awhile until it just seemed so stupid to be inhaling directly into my brain crap made in a bathtub. At least that's how the first popper salesman I knew made it. He could get $20 a bottle at the gay nightclub, even more if it was late and guys going home needed the rush. This individual eventually became a millionaire, supposedly a philanthropist, yet he was not well liked. But, an entrepreneur he was, and I'll bet many an orgasm is credited to him as the popper rush kept guys going and going and going all night long.

[Guest EXPAT]

I'm assuming this chain is exclusive to Canada. I've never heard of them.

I hate hate hate poppers. They do the opposite to me. I lose any arousal I might have had with poppers anywhere near me.

[TotallyOz]

I owned a video store years ago. I sold poppers and it made great money. The cost per bottom was 1.25 to 3.50 for the high end. The retail was usually 9x-20x that. And, they would sell. I understand many business that rely on this and I don't know of many online places in the USA that now sells them. The owner of Rush died a few years back and I don't think there are any legit Rush products.

[Lucky]

Has it been three years already since the Prince of Poppers offed himself?

After researching on the reports on various gay blogs, JRL can now confirm that the Rush brand owner and distributor of the product known as poppers, committed suicide. You can find the RUSH brand at online E-Retailers, adult video and adult novelty stores nationwide. The brand is distributed by Pac West Distributing (PWD).

The Great Lakes Products owner Joe Miller was considered the world’s largest manufacturer of poppers with his headquarters based in Indianapolis. Joe Miller committed suicide two weeks ago on Wednesday August 25, 2010. Miller was a gay man and lived in Indiana. He made his fortune from the manufacture and distribution of poppers. Gay pioneers can research an archive article Joe Miller wrote back in 1983 letter to The Advocate, boasting of the money he spent in the gay media marketplace.

An inside source sent the following email to the JRL corporate offices last week in regards to Miller’s passing. “You’ve probably heard that Joe Miller died late last night. Joe was a controversial figure in the gay community—I’m sure you’ve heard of his travels and tribulations. He made lots of money and spread it around. Rumors about his lifestyle are rampant, and always have been. Yet, he was largely known to be a recluse.”

He was indeed a huge contributor to the Democratic party and through his foundation, he was also well known for his donations to various HIV/AIDS education and children’s groups. Because of the manner in which his money was made and the stereotype myth of poppers spreading the HIV/AIDS virus, Miller was considered by some in the conservative arena controversial.

You’ll remember abou the story that was reported earlier this year about the Atlanta gay activist died after using Poppers while he was on the prescription drug Levitra. Alledgedly, Miller’s Great Lakes Products was illegally distributing Poppers/RUSH as a recreational inhalant largely in the gay community, where it was sold in gay bars, adult video and novelty stores and over the Internet.

Miller once boasted that he was the largest manufacturer of Poppers in the world and spent more money than any other business on advertising in gay publications.

Miller gave large campaign contributions to politicians like the late U.S. Rep. Julia Carson (pictured with Joe Miller – right), former Indianapolis Mayor Bart Peterson and U.S. Rep. Baron Hill.

Miller’s company also fronted capital for web sites that downplay the negative effects of the RUSH brand known as poppers on the street. While evidence linking the RUSH brand to HIV/AIDS contraction, has been mostly debunked.

Consumers were always warned that the use of Poppers with Viagra/Cialis/Levitra can possibly cause you a heart attack and could possibly kill you. Apparently the Indianapolis Star pulled its online obituary for him. Rumors are in the comments of the blogs quoted above of his company being raided by the federal government, sexual tourism, and using influence to suppress “anti-poppers” regulation and media coverage.

(Source JRL is unknown to me. I posted this from a post at POZ Forums.)

RUSH is still sold in Palm Springs, btw.

[TampaYankee]

Priape closed. Ste Catherine St in the Village will never be the same. It was a great store and lots of fun to take twinks to. Just ask Marc Anthony.