Only weeks ago, the government announced that it would be banning poppers under its Psychoactive Substances Bill. Despite widespread condemnation from the gay community, as well as from drugs experts who were of the view that poppers weren’t harmful, the government pushed ahead with the ban – which is due to come into effect on April 1.

In a good piece of news for popper-users everywhere, it looks like the substance might not be being banned after all. The Independent reports that the official body that advises the government on its drugs strategy – The Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs ­– is of the view that the government has not actually banned poppers after all.

The Council says, ““In the ACMD’s view, alkyl nitrites (“poppers”) do not fall within the scope of the current definition of a “psychoactive substance” in the Psychoactive Substances Act 2016. Consequently, the ACMD does not see a need for an exemption under the Psychoactive Substances Act 2016.”

What this means in practice that – somewhat embarrassingly – the government may not have banned poppers (despite thinking that they were doing so), because they’re not classified as an official psychoactive substance. 

It’s unclear what the legal implications of today’s ruling are for popper users everywhere. Technically, as poppers aren’t defined by the ACMD as psychoactive substances, it looks like the much-criticised ban on their use shouldn’t be going ahead. And if you look through the actual text of the Psychoactive Substances Bill, poppers (or their chemical name, amyl nitrate) aren’t specified in the legislation, meaning they haven’t already been ‘banned’ by the authorities in any sense.

What does this mean for popper users? Well, you may not need to stock up after all.