Conservative MP Crispin Blunt reveals 'I'm a user of poppers'

"Astonished": MP Crispin Blunt described the ban on poppers as "fantastically stupid"
PA
Jamie Bullen20 January 2016

A Conservative MP has criticised a proposed ban on poppers during a debate in the House of Commons and admitted he is a user of the drug.

Crispin Blunt, MP for Reigate, said he was “astonished” at proposals to outlaw the drug, popular with gay men, under the Psychoactive Substances Bill.

He spoke in Parliament today after Labour asked for poppers to be exempt from the legislation, created to ban legal recreational drugs.

However, the amendment was rejected after 309 to 228 MPs voted against the move.

Mr Blunt, who came out as gay in 2010, said: “There are sometimes that something is proposed which becomes personal to you and you realise the government is about to do something fantastically stupid and in those circumstances one has a duty to speak up.

“I use poppers. I out myself as a user of poppers. I am astonished to find it (the government) is proposing it to be banned and frankly so would many other gay men."

Mr Blunt, uncle to Hollywood actress Emily Blunt, added a ban would “bring the whole law into disrepute” and warned it could “drive supply underground into the hands of criminals”.

He later told BBC Radio 4’s PM programme he had never suffered any adverse effects from using the drug and said there was no evidence to suggest it posed a danger.

He said: "I think it was the most powerful argument to make and I didn't want to be a hypocrite."

Under the new legislation, personal possession of poppers will not be criminalised but there would be a blanket ban on their production, supply and importation.

Police would be authorised to shut down any websites selling the drug online.

The ban will be enacted in April.

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