Worst drug gay
Gay men starting to use crystal meth usually increase their sexual risk taking
A study which followed the equal group of homosexual men over several years has establish that individuals who have started to use crystal meth tend to acquire riskier sexual behaviour than they had in previous years. While this doesn’t definitively demonstrate a causal link, the study also suggests that crystal methamphetamine has a greater impact on sexual behaviour than other drugs.
“Given the ethical impossibility of conducting a randomized, restricted trial of the effects of methamphetamine use on sexual risk behavior, the results presented here provide the strongest evidence yet that initiation of methamphetamine use increases sexual risk behavior among HIV-uninfected MSM,” the researchers write in the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes.
Crystal meth is a strong stimulant which can multiply libido. Users portray having lower inhibitions, greater confidence and feeling sexually compulsive.
Glossary
risky behaviour
In HIV, refers to any behaviour or action that increases an individual’s probability of acquiring or transmitting HIV, such as having unprotected sex, having multiple partn
HIV-positive gay men in England report highest chemsex rates in four-country survey
A study presented at the recent 17th European AIDS Conference (EACS 2019), comparing reported drug use among HIV-positive men attending clinics in England, Spain, Greece and Italy, has establish higher rates of drug use in England than in other countries and considerably higher usage of the drugs used in chemsex (sexualised drug use) – methamphetamine, GHB/GBL, mephedrone and ketamine.
The English men also reported higher rates of adverse effects of using chemsex drugs such as drug withdrawal, non-consensual sex and problems at work. They were also considerably more likely to report drug injection than men in the other three countries, though not higher rates of injection injury (bad hits).
The survey only looked at a selected patient group so can’t be used to draw conclusions about chemsex use in HIV-positive men in general in the four countries – but the very different patterns of drug use are striking. These data can be compared with the figures from the European MSM Internet Survey (EMIS) 2017.
Glossary
chemsex
The operate of recreational drugs such as mephedrone, GHB/GBL and crystal meth
Breaking Bad: Why doesn't the UK have a crystal meth problem?
Instead, Pietschmann points to the relative difficulty of getting hold of the chemicals and skill needed to make methamphetamine, compared with somewhere enjoy the Czech Republic.
The drug has long been a problem there because production continued after the end of WWII - when it was given to troops to hold them alert - and the necessary chemicals were made there during the communist era, says Pietschmann.
The fall of communism was also a factor, says Shapiro. "There was a large chemical pharmaceutical industry out there that set up itself with not much to do, so it had an infrastructure of drug manufacture."
It is differences like this that can explain why a drug is present in one country but not another, he says.
"Usually there's a reason, country by region, why some drug trends develop and others don't. There's an automatic assumption that whatever happens in America's going to arise in the UK, but that doesn't happen."
And then there's the cost. According to Drugscope a gram of crystal meth can cost up to £260 in the UK, compared with £46 per gram of
International Journal of Drug Policy, 2016; 38:4-12 (doi:10.1016/j.drugpo.2016.09.007).
Authors: Axel J. Schmidt, Adam Bourne, Peter Weatherburn, David Reid, Uli Marcus, Ford Hickson & The EMIS Network
Abstract
Background: Anecdotal evidence suggests that men who have sex with men (MSM) are increasingly combining sex and illicit drugs (an outing referred to as ‘chemsex’), in particular GHB/GBL, ketamine, crystal meth, or mephedrone (here called 4-chems). Apply of such drugs has been associated with mental health and sexual health harms. We aim to compare patterns of illicit drug use among MSM in 44 European urban centres.
Methods: In 2010, EMIS recruited 174,209 men from 38 countries to an anonymous online questionnaire in 25 languages. As impair reduction services for drugs and sex are organised at a local level, we chose to match cities rather than countries. We defined 44 cities based on region/postal code and settlement size. For multivariable regression analyses, three comparison groups of MSM not living in these cities were applied: MSM living in Germany, the UK, and elsewhere in Europe.
Results: Data from 55,446 MSM living in 44 urban centres were inclu
Deaths of 2 men that were drugged, assaulted at homosexual nightclubs ruled as homicides
The Brand-new York City Office of the Principal Medical Examiner dictated Friday on the deaths of two men who died after they were drugged and lost at gay nightclubs in Hell's Kitchen.
The 2022 deaths of John Umberger and Julio Ramirez were ruled homicides after they were given drugs tainted with fentanyl, according to police.
Ramirez, 25, was found dead in the back of a taxi on April 21, 2022, and his bank accounts were drained after a bedtime out at Ritz Bar and Lounge.
Umberger, 33, was initiate dead inside the East 61st Lane apartment on June 1, 2022, where he had been staying since he arrived New York on business. More than $200,000 had been stolen from Umberger’s phone and credit cards, according to his mother Linda Clary.
The deaths of Ramirez and Umberger were first disclosed by their family members. It brought public attention to several patterns of druggings and robberies, some involving members of the gay community, that resulted in as many as seven overdose deaths.
The medical examiner’s determination the deaths were homicides now allows detectives and prosecutors to begin pursuing