Public health experts on Wednesday raise the alarm about rising popularity of “chemsex” - in which men have sex under the influence of drugs, often with multiple partners - in sections of the gay community.
The phenomenon should be considered a public health priority due to increased HIV risk, medics warn.
The practice is mainly carried out by gay men using a combination of drugs such as mephedrone, GHB, GBL and crystal meth enabling them to have sexual sessions lasting hours or even days.
People who engage in chemsex are putting themselves at risk of not only sexually transmitted diseases but also serious mental harm because of drug dependency, according to research by sexual health experts published in the BMJ today.
The authors referred to the Chemsex Study, the first British research project of its kind from earlier this year, which used data from the European “Men Who Have Sex With Men” internet survey.
Of 1 142 respondents in the London boroughs of Lambeth, Southwark, and Lewisham, around a fifth reported chemsex within the past five years, and one in 10 within the past four weeks.
However, a majority of those who do engage in the practice are seeking help for related health issues the researchers said.
Antidote, a specialist service for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender community in London, reported almost two-thirds (64 per cent) of attendees seeking support for reported use of chemsex drugs in 2013-14.
Of crystal meth and GHB/GBL users, most reported using them to facilitate sex, with around three-quarters reporting injected drug use.
Antidote's Jamie Willis and Hannah McGill, a senior nurse in sexual health at the Central and Northwest London NHS Foundation Trust, who wrote the BMJ paper, said chemsex drug users often describe “losing days” - not sleeping or eating for up to 72 hours.
On average, those involved had five sexual partners per session. Unprotected sex is the norm.
The researchers said funding for drugs services in the UK is focused on tackling heroin, crack cocaine, and alcohol dependency, and both chemsex drug users and health professionals may believe referral to traditional services is inappropriate.
The 15th European Aids Conference in Barcelona was shown research last week on patterns of sexual behaviour and drug use among 874 men who attended a chemsex support service over one year at the 56 Dean Street clinic, London's busiest sexual health clinic.
The study found that 70 per cent of individuals attending the clinic reported no drug-free sex whatsoever in the previous six months. “Most men couldn't remember their last sober sex,” David Stuart, the service's substance abuse lead, told the conference.
The rise of chemsex in London - described as a “vicious circle of sex, addiction and dependence” - is the subject of a new documentary from Vice UK.
Dr Richard Ma, for the Royal College of GPs, said: “Taking recreational drugs during sex can lead to a number of potentially harmful side effects including facilitating the spread of common STIs and HIV, but also serious mental health problems, such as anxiety, psychoses and suicidal tendencies.”
The Independent
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