Miller's Popper Business Closed

A blog report out of New York suggests Joe Miller's Great Lakes Products, the world's largest manufacturer of poppers, has been closed following news he committed suicide last week. This Is FYF blog in a post headlined, "Rush to the store because your bottle of poppers just became a collector's item," reported on hearing from a video store owner that Miller's business had shuttered its doors. The blog checked several websites at which brands of Miller's poppers were sold, including its most popular brand, RUSH, and found all of them shuttered, including Pac West Distributing, which distributes the amyl nitrate inhalants manufactured by Miller's Great Lakes Products based in Indianapolis. Was the business recently raided by federal investigators? We can only guess.

As usual, the Indianapolis news media remains mum on the death of one of the City's wealthiest businessmen and perhaps the largest single contributor to Democratic candidates in the state of Indiana behind the billionaire Simon family. Although it is illegal to market amyl nitrates for human consumption without a prescription, Miller's company for decades cleverly marketed its products as video head cleaner and room deodorizers with a wink and a nod. Combining poppers with erectile dysfunction drugs like Viagra, Cialis and Levitra can have deadly consequences. The recreational drug inhalant also weakens the body's immune system, increases the likelihood of contracting HIV/AIDS and is a likely cause of Kaposi's sarcoma, a disease often associated with gay men suffering from HIV/AIDS.

The more I ponder this story the more I can't stop thinking about the complete double standard in the local news media's coverage of Miller versus their coverage of alleged Ponzi scheme operator Tim Durham. In reality, from a purely business-motivated end of the equation, there is far more intrigue and titillating details to the Miller story to draw viewers and readers than there ever was to the Durham story. Durham must be sitting out in his L.A. mansion wondering if he would have been better off to take the lower public profile path Miller chose than the much higher public profile he chose to take.