Inside The Dark, Dangerous World of Chemsex + Online App Chem Sex Dangers + BBC Report On Chem Sex + I am hooked and don't know how to quit (Compiled)

[Angelix]

Some gay guys not only use drugs during sex, they pass around pills in the club to get high as well. Gay guys in Taiwan are notorious for drug use and chem sex. I met up with a group of guys in Taiwan and they are a bunch good looking and muscular dudes. I would never have guessed they like to organise orgies with free drugs lying around  in the house. It got more ridiculous during New Year or Gay Pride where they could party, be high and had sex all weekends long with other guys from different countries.

[Guest Guest]

Some gay guys not only use drugs during sex, they pass around pills in the club to get high as well. Gay guys in Taiwan are notorious for drug use and chem sex. I met up with a group of guys in Taiwan and they are a bunch good looking and muscular dudes. I would never have guessed they like to organise orgies with free drugs lying around in the house. It got more ridiculous during New Year or Gay Pride where they could party, be high and had sex all weekends long with other guys from different countries.

I always can't understand why a good looking guy want to to extreme bulk up then take drugs. It destriys his beauty and good life in front of him. I thought tw should be very open-minded. These gays still looking for hijinks to de-stress? So many ways and methods to have kinky sex, have fun or destress! Scary and unbelievable.

[Angelix]

I always can't understand why a good looking guy want to to extreme bulk up then take drugs. It destriys his beauty and good life in front of him. I thought tw should be very open-minded. These gays still looking for hijinks to de-stress? So many ways and methods to have kinky sex, have fun or destress! Scary and unbelievable.

 I think drug use in Taiwan is rampant due to the light punishment and loose government control of illegal drugs. Compared to Malaysia or Singapore where possession of drug can land you 10 to 20 years of jail time or even death sentence if you were found distributing drugs, hence people here do not dare to take the risks. I would imagine people would easily enticed to use drugs especially they are easily available and all your peers are using it. Gay circle is closely knitted, it is really common to find a bunch of them who know each other also get high together.

Edited October 10, 2014 by Angelix

[Guest Guest]

I do have a few gay fren's who doodle with drugs but they know my stand and so will try to keep it from me. But I do not judge them for using drug, though I often like to remind them of the risk at every opportune time without sounding like a broken recorder.

But I regretted not convincing one of my ex when I found out he did drugs after we broke off. He died last year indirectly due to drugs and he was only 32 yrs old. Till now, i still feel the pain whenever I thought of him, btw his birthday just passed two weeks ago.

[Guest hunky]

Dun do drugs guys, once u get hooked thats the end of ur life. Many ppl keep thinking try once its ok, then first time second time and a few more times....eventually they get hooked without themselves knowing cos u wanna get the high feelings again and again

[Guest Guest]

how he died? cute?

 

 

[Guest Guest]

Dun do drugs guys, once u get hooked thats the end of ur life. Many ppl keep thinking try once its ok, then first time second time and a few more times....eventually they get hooked without themselves knowing cos u wanna get the high feelings again and again

 

i took before and dont like it. felt so dehydrated and look wrinkled the next day. teeth keep biting and luckily i didnt foam to death...maybe i was given dirty drug or rat poison.

[Guest Raver]

I always can't understand why a good looking guy want to to extreme bulk up then take drugs. It destriys his beauty and good life in front of him. I thought tw should be very open-minded. These gays still looking for hijinks to de-stress? So many ways and methods to have kinky sex, have fun or destress! Scary and unbelievable.

 

A lot of things are difficult to understand, just like crisis in Middle East, money grabbing PRCs, etc etc haha. 

 

Anyway I used to party in Taiwan (did party drugs for dancing but not for orgies). I kind of lost interest in parties but still go back to visit Taipei once a while. I bump into the same "muscular & hot" guys. Sorry some of their looks and body has gone into the drain (dark eye circles, sunken cheeks, etc). 

[Guest Guest]

wat r tell tale signs of drug users in gay scene?

 

do they have good body? i simply cant relate good body w chem.

[Guest Guest]

wat r tell tale signs of drug users in gay scene?

do they have good body? i simply cant relate good body w chem.

you are not seeing enough yet.

[Greatitude]

I consider myself as a person who may not enjoy sex as I supposed to. One possible reason I tell myself is because of my increased expectation on what type of body would excite me.

I only watch porn once in two weeks and started to watch them on my 20. I can feel that every time, the "excitement threshold" increased and every time I need to put more effort to excite myself by seeing a hotter guy. 

 

In fact, mental stimulation (including sexual fantasies) is one of human needs. But raising the "excitement threshold" too high may lead to a boring life for the person. 

[Guest Guest]

I consider myself as a person who may not enjoy sex as I supposed to. One possible reason I tell myself is because of my increased expectation on what type of body would excite me.

I only watch porn once in two weeks and started to watch them on my 20. I can feel that every time, the "excitement threshold" increased and every time I need to put more effort to excite myself by seeing a hotter guy.

In fact, mental stimulation (including sexual fantasies) is one of human needs. But raising the "excitement threshold" too high may lead to a boring life for the person.

Yup get what u are trying to say....experienced tt too...

Maybe instead of going for something better...go for variety...variety doesnt mean tt it must be better but its something different...

Relating it to sex, there can be different partners, threesome, group sex, role play, sex toys etc....so much more ppl can do w/o drugs...just rmb to play safe

[joshTWjosh]

I think it's similar to other social fringe minorities, since these are the groups more susceptible to drug use. Just that gays are too rich & educated to spiral down into those druggies u see on the street.

[Guest Guest]

Yucks. Meth rot and crystal dick. No one will want to get those. You would think they are scary enough to deter everyone from using meth. Shockingly, people still use it DESPITE knowing the consequences. That's impossible for me to fathom.

[bluerunner]

Yucks. Meth rot and crystal dick. No one will want to get those. You would think they are scary enough to deter everyone from using meth. Shockingly, people still use it DESPITE knowing the consequences. That's impossible for me to fathom.

Just like many gay men still do bare back knowing it is more risky and bares higher chance to contracting Aids.

[Guest hunk]

Some gay guys not only use drugs during sex, they pass around pills in the club to get high as well. Gay guys in Taiwan are notorious for drug use and chem sex. I met up with a group of guys in Taiwan and they are a bunch good looking and muscular dudes. I would never have guessed they like to organise orgies with free drugs lying around  in the house. It got more ridiculous during New Year or Gay Pride where they could party, be high and had sex all weekends long with other guys from different countries.

 

many of these 'good looking & muscular' dudes come from good background, dun really need to worry about life and problems and can resort to party and sex with drugs.

of cos i dun mean all are like that but this is a characteristics i have realised.

 

many young and impressionable gays see these 'good looking, popular and muscular' gays as yardsticks and wanna be like them and more or less get influenced as they get older.

its okay to party all night long and have safe sex but drugs do not have to be involved.

dun have to follow and be like these guys to make yourself 'popular' and fit in.

[Guest Guest]

Just like many gay men still do bare back knowing it is more risky and bares higher chance to contracting Aids.

Some of those do it under drug influence or are already positive. Most still use condoms.

[Guest Guest]

good read.

[passinthenight]

 I listened to a radio interview in Melbourne of an ex ice smoker who had been to rehab to get off it.

 

 He said that the drug ice, is so powerful & overpowering, the urge to smoke it, will be with him until his dying day.

[PaterTenebrarum]

Drugs aint nothing new, dude. They have always been around and will always be around.

 

In fact, the drug situation among the community here was much much wilder in the early 2000s.

 

Trust me. Ive been around the block and back enough to know.

 

Back then., Ive seen people popping pills, powdering their noses pretty openly on dancefloors.

 

Of course, I avoid such things, me bieng a good boy and all that.

Edited January 12, 2015 by PaterTenebrarum

[Guest wozzit]

last time in the early 2000s, chill means go club lounge, drink and laze around. i dunno why it becomes a term for chem.

 

Back in the 1920s n 30s, gay meant being happy, lively, carefree n cheerful. Paris was known as Gay Paree where everyone had a gay time - including a fun sexual time, but sex between guys n gals. 

 

Meanings change over time. Although gay occasionally meant homosexuals from the end of the 19th century especially in relation to more effeminate ones, its much more specific use to refer to all men who hv sex with men was adopted as a general term during the sexual revolution of the 1960s.

[azimuth]

Whatever the stories may be, you will find the same outcome. Nothing good ever comes out of using drugs.

[Guest Anti-drugs]

I don't know why but personally these days I'm a little more cautious when using the words "use" and "abuse" to readily label anyone's choice of activities. Just saying.

DRUG ABUSE is NOT a "choice", it is evil and destroys lives, we must adopt a ZERO tolerance for drug-users, stop using the term "recreational" to make it sound more acceptable.

[greyzoned]

Just turn on grindr any time after 1am and you will have lots of invitations to such "escapades".

[tgones]

I've read alot of stories in regards of ongoing use of meth. But anyone heard of stories of ONE TIME use of meth? Is there any permanent side effect from one time use?

[Guest guest]

Once you used, the ice will remain in your body forever.

[greyzoned]

I've read alot of stories in regards of ongoing use of meth. But anyone heard of stories of ONE TIME use of meth? Is there any permanent side effect from one time use?

Once is all it takes to change ur character, perception and mental structure. And once is all it takes to get hooked.

[Muscleanstr8btm]

Try not to think about sex too often. Be nice and talk about our humble and modest life with other people. Sex stay inside our bedroom and just talk casually through any gay websites/apps too. If there is anything related to drugs, POLITELY say NO because we don't want to discriminate people. If we do, this people will easily lost tneir way and become rebellious. Started to destroy themselves. We need to give them a support and talk nicely. Be a friend to them and try to guide them.

I lost a friend because of drugs and I lost friends because of HIV.

[Guest guest]

Back in my 'green' days, my online profile would indicate dat i was looking to chill. It took me some time and after some chats w different guys with a few giving me some rather nasty messages, before I began to realise what 'chill' meant instead of - 'relaxing over wine and smokes and see what happens'- which was what I meant. My friends thot that I was a moron for not knowing.

[Muscleanstr8btm]

When I was a fanatic fan of Frozen movie, i'm always put a snowflakes symbol in everything that I wrote including my ID name in grindr and jack'd. I received tons of invitation for this type of activity for about a month without knowing what is all about till a guy who is also using meth told me everything about this. It is funny to see how desperate or should I say how addicted of them till they can think this far just because of the snowflakes. I blamed Elsa for this.

Let it go, let it go...can't take it anymore...!!~~

[EasleyLim]

When I was a fanatic fan of Frozen movie, i'm always put a snowflakes symbol in everything that I wrote including my ID name in grindr and jack'd. I received tons of invitation for this type of activity for about a month without knowing what is all about till a guy who is also using meth told me everything about this. It is funny to see how desperate or should I say how addicted of them till they can think this far just because of the snowflakes. I blamed Elsa for this.

Let it go, let it go...can't take it anymore...!!~~

 

TIL Elsa is a drug peddler.

[Guest Druggie]

Crystal meth - Hong Kong in denial over drug epidemic

 

As the government claims drug abuse among young Hongkongers is in decline, frontline workers are reporting an epidemic in crystal-meth use. Fifty years after a landmark book shone a light on substance abuse in our city, the issue is again being swept out of sight, writes Stuart Heaver

 

• 

PARAMILITARY POLICE INSPECT MACHINES USED TO MANUFACTURE CRYSTAL METH FOLLOWING A RAID IN BOSHE VILLAGE, LUFENG, IN GUANGDONG PROVINCE. PHOTOS: SCMP; CORBIS; XINHUA

 

Fifty years ago this month, a radical book about Hong Kong's deep-rooted drug problem was published by a young English academic. Under the Rug made front-page headlines and shook the colonial establishment from its entrenched complacency about drug abuse.
 

Top: a review of Dr Michael Whisson’s book Under the Rug, in the South China Morning Post dated August 9, 1965. Above: an SCMP report dated June 28, 1965.

In his book, Dr Michael Whisson observed that Hong Kong had hopelessly inadequate rehabilitation facilities run by well-meaning but largely ineffectual voluntary groups, which he compared to religious orders. The city had been "nourished by the opium trade throughout its early years", he wrote, and "despite edicts and efforts, it has been unable to shake off its habit and probably consumes more opiates per head of population than any other country". Whisson concluded that "despite its statements of pious intent … the Hong Kong government has not given the elimination of the drug problem very high priority".
 

Half a century later, experts are alarmed about a new drug problem evolving in Hong Kong and there are disturbing parallels with the observations Whisson made.
 

The authorities in Beijing last month issued a stark warning about a 36 per cent increase per year in the abuse of modern synthetic drugs such as methamphetamines (more commonly known as crystal meth or Ice), ketamine and Ecstasy. The National Narcotics Control Commission estimates the total number of drug addicts on the mainland could exceed 14 million.
 

Guangdong province is competing with Mexico to be the world's principal methamphetamine production centre and seizures of Ice across the Asia-Pacific region almost quadrupled from 11 tonnes in 2008 to 42 tonnes in 2013. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime refers to an "unprecedented global expansion of the synthetic drugs market" and Hong Kong, dangerously close to its epicentre, is identified in a recent report from the UN body as a hub for syndicates smuggling this highly toxic and potentially destructive drug. Last week, Hong Kong customs chiefs described as "staggering" the 186 per cent increase year on year in the amount of drugs they have seized in the first five months of 2015.
 

Given these numerous warning signs, it is difficult to credit the latest figures issued by the Central Registry of Drug Abuse, which reveal that the total number of reported drug abusers in Hong Kong had actually decreased by 13 per cent last year (from 10,241 to 8,926) from 2013. Officially, then there are fewer than 9,000 drug abusers out of a largely urban population of 7.24 million and the most recent survey (from 2011/12) of drug use among youngsters reports "a remarkable drop in the prevalence of drug use among students across all education levels". In a widespread public consultation undertaken this year, only 43 per cent of respondents thought drug abuse was a serious problem in Hong Kong.
 

Professionals working on the front line of drug counselling and rehabilitation in Hong Kong are extremely sceptical about the official figures. Many are concerned about an imminent crystal-meth epidemic. Dr Vanessa Wong Ting-chi, a psychiatrist specialising in substance abuse, describes the official figures as "a joke" that reflects a "numbers game" and one experienced drug counsellor, who would prefer not to be named, says she is "shocked by the numbers" and they "do not reflect her personal experiences based on working in the field for nine years".
 

"The anecdotal evidence in Hong Kong … is disturbing and there clearly needs to be a wake-up call for police, medical, hospital and clinic staff, to create a coordinated effort for the prevention, intervention and treatment of this scourge," says addiction counsellor Paul Schulte.
 

That wake-up call appears long overdue, as concerns are being voiced privately about the quality and availability of help for those struggling with addiction and substance abuse. Some counsellors report clients being turned away from public hospitals, others fear that the predominance of Christian-based NGOs in counselling and rehab services may act as a deterrent to some sectors of society. Wong, who has years of experience in the public sector, describes services as "fragmented and even I would not know how to navigate them successfully".
 

The Hei Ling Chau Addiction Treatment Centre under construction, in 1976.
 

Another worrying indicator is that Asia's best-known private sector drug rehabilitation centre has felt the need to open an outpatient clinic in Hong Kong; its first facility outside Thailand. Over the past four years, The Cabin Chiang Mai has been receiving hundreds of inquiries from across Asia.
 

"The largest number of these inquiries were from Hong Kong," says a spokesman for The Cabin, which opened a branch in Central in January.
 

Peter (not his real name) is a former patient of The Cabin Chiang Mai and now lives in Hong Kong. He was educated at boarding school in Britain and comes from what he describes as a stable, middle-class, expatriate family. Peter is an urbane, articulate and charming graduate in his 30s, who holds down a responsible management job in a human resources company. He is also a drug addict immersed in a harrowing daily struggle with cocaine, crystal-meth and crack addiction.
 

"Believe me, drugs are alive and kicking in Hong Kong - you work hard and play hard and part of playing is drugs," says Peter, who is more than aware of the destructive side of addiction. "If you just go to Lan Kwai Fong or SoHo you can see all the dealers - they are usually the Nigerians standing on the street corners. Why do you think all those African people are standing around the Buddha bar?
 

"Almost any of the touts outside Chungking Mansions will be able to fix you up with anything you like. It's not just copy watches you know."
 

Peter first connected with cocaine as a lifestyle drug in London and was introduced to methamphetamine in Singapore a few years later.
 

"When I came [to Hong Kong], the first thing I did was plug into drugs and line up a dealer. I was introduced by a friend to a dealer within 24 hours; you never meet them, you just get a telephone number. I send them a text saying what I want and they send it over in a taxi. They just text the taxi number plate. The whole thing takes about 30 minutes but you can order in advance if you want to," he explains.
 

"Predominantly, I was a solo user but it could be social, too. It could be anywhere from a friend's parent's apartment in Pok Fu Lam to a squalid crack den in Kennedy Town," he says. "Lots of expat friends who grew up in Hong Kong were exposed to drugs from an early age. That's my impression. I think kids are very exposed to drugs here and it is very accessible. Friends say they started using in their early teens.
 

Drug-related reports in the SCMP from 1965.
 

"My wheels came off. I was into daily use of cocaine, meth and crack. I had a family crisis and I just imploded. I quit my job and my life came apart at the seams. I overdosed. I was arrested. I ended up in hospital. I overstayed my work visa, I was kicked out of Hong Kong. I couldn't even attend a family funeral because I was too high," he says, looking down at the floor.
 

"I had a fabulous apartment in Mid-Levels but I was living like a homeless person. I was p***ing into jam jars as I couldn't be bothered to get up and go to the bathroom. It wasn't a pretty sight, believe me. I was numb the whole time.
 

"Seeking help was the biggest hurdle for me," he says, and talks about the stigma of drug use and the misconception that all drug users are "weak, morally deviant or just bad". Peter hopes that his story will encourage others to seek help and says crystal meth can ruin anyone who gives into its charms.

"I have seen users of all types - it affects all strata of society," he says. "I have a lot of straight friends who use Ice; it is not only the gay community."
 

Schulte witnesses the tragic consequences of crystal-meth addiction in Hong Kong on an almost daily basis. His recently published book, Paths to Recovery for Gay and Bisexual Drug Addicts: Healing Weary Hearts, focuses on what he calls the "disease of secrets" in the gay community, which is a "cauldron of alcohol and drug dependence". The book charts the meteoric rise of crystal-meth addiction from California to major epidemics in London and New York.
 

"Everything in front of me tells me Hong Kong and Singapore are heading the same way," says Schulte, who spends about 25 hours per week working on a pro bono basis as an addiction counsellor in a number of the city's medical facilities. "Crystal meth just cleans you out; it cleans you out of your apartment, your car keys, your job, your teeth and your relationships." He estimates that about 80 per cent of his clients are young gay and bisexual men.
 

"Crystal meth is a drug for sex," he explains. "Its powers to allow a gay or bisexual man to leave behind the fear, shame, self-loathing and anxiety are magical."
 

The implication is that safe sex is often cast aside during Ice-fuelled sexual activity.

"Crystal meth leads to HIV as night follows day," he says. This link is a huge worry in a city where the chief executive of Aids Concern, Andrew Chidgey, is already describing an "HIV epidemic". The most recent statistics from the Centre for Health Protection show that 173 cases of HIV infection were reported during the first quarter of the year. If the figures for the next three quarters are the same, 2015 will have been the fifth year in a row that the number of new infections in the city has risen.
 

Bags of crystal meth seized during a raid in Boshe village, Lufeng city, Guangdong, in 2013.
 

Well acquainted with the covert world of drugs and sex in the gay community, Dr Sky Lau Hoi-leung spent three years researching his controversial PhD sociology thesis "Experiencing Risky Pleasure - The Exploration of '<<No Drugs Posting>>' in the Hong Kong Gay Community". He interviewed 30 subjects, or "playmates", about their drug use and sexual practices at "<<No Drugs Posting>>" parties; social gatherings where gay men chat, dance and "play" (i.e. have sex).
 

Lau believes that too much analysis of drug use in gay circles is shrouded in taboo, shame and an obsession with public health, driven by government bodies and NGOs dominated by the values of Christian groups.

"We don't have any official figures for the scale of the chem-fun lifestyle but it is becoming much more prevalent and much more prevailing in the Hong Kong gay community," says Lau.
 

Picking up his phone, he scrolls through a colourful mosaic of tiny images of bare torsos, buttocks and penises on Grindr, one of the most popular gay dating apps in Hong Kong. Even a casual examination reveals a significant number of men seeking "chilled fun", "<<No Drugs Posting>>", "plug and play" and "Tina", all well-known euphemisms for drug-and-sex parties. Some men have usernames such as cfun79 and chem90, which clearly indicate their preferences.
 

Lau says there was a drastic shift in 2009-10.
 

"The whole scene in chem-fun culture changed from Ecstasy and K [ketamine] to crystal meth; this was a consistent and universal observation reported by all my informants," says Lau.
 

Grindr has 2.3 million users in more than 190 countries and there are several similar apps. Hong Kong is one of the top 10 cities in terms of numbers of users, so while the scale of the chem-fun scene is impossible to measure accurately, it clearly involves thousands rather than hundreds of men in Hong Kong regularly using crystal meth as a recreational lifestyle drug.
 

"Most say they have a great life but they just want to have great sex," says Lau, who explains that managing the risk is part of the pleasure. He does not necessarily think these playmates are in denial about their addiction but that they wish to distance themselves from the stigma attached to a stereotypical heroin junkie.
 

However, "thinking that you can control your drug use is part of being an addict; only other people can see when you have lost control", says Wong, who worked at the Pamela Youde Nethersole Eastern Hospital before setting up a private practice. "Any drug that hijacks your brain is really not a good idea.
 

Police cars outside Boshe during the raid in which three tonnes of crystal meth were seized.
 

"Methamphetamine is probably the most toxic of all drugs and the quality of the product on the streets is hugely variable. When methamphetamine use goes wrong, the patient has to be physically restrained - then they will 'melt down', which means they sleep for three to four days. On waking they have no recall of what has happened. If they are lucky, there are no long-term repercussions but often they become paranoid or have hallucinations. Of all the drugs, methamphetamine holds the highest risk of psychosis - this essentially means it causes something fundamentally wrong with the wiring of your brain."
 

Gay dating app Grindr.Like many others, Wong points to the unhelpful moral judgments made about those who abuse drugs and admits that even health professionals will characterise users as a "stigmatised group who are somehow weak or immoral people". Furthermore, Hong Kong's adoption of a moral framework for dealing with addiction, reflected in the high number of rehab and counselling services run by faith-based NGOs, makes the city appear critical - and squeamish.
 

Wong says she met a colleague in the United States who advertised his clinic on gay dating apps "but that would never happen here".
 

"If you stigmatise these people, they don't seek help; they will just hide away for fear of rejection," Wong says.

Schulte says many of his gay patients have been kicked out of their church groups because of their sexual orientation so are unlikely to go back seeking help for addiction, and Peter looks appalled when asked whether he has sought help from a faith-based organisation.
 

One of the agencies delivering drug counselling, and one of the few without direct religious links, is Hong Kong Children and Youth Services, in Tsuen Wan. Its employees have a caseload of about 280 addicts aged from 26 to 35, using ketamine, Ice and cocaine. They also report an increase in the use of crystal meth.
 

"Ketamine is the biggest drug seen here but the trend is quickly changing to Ice," says Cheng Ting-ting, a social worker who has been with the service for about five years.
 

Her colleagues introduce two former Ice addicts who are now teammates in the centre's championship-winning five-a-side football team, comprised mostly of users and ex-users from the local area. Jason Yuen Pak-hang and Cyrus Lau Pak-yui spent years being arrested and re-arrested for dealing and using ketamine, cocaine and crystal meth and were referred to rehab centres only to relapse before finally getting clean.
 

"All my friends were doing ketamine so if I didn't take it I would just look weird," says Yuen, who is now married and plays football at the centre to distance himself from his old social network, which is still drug dependent.

An image from the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office, in the US, shows the effects of meth on a woman over a span of 2.5 years.

Lau says he started taking drugs when he was 13 years old and, by the age of 16, had been jailed on the mainland for drug trafficking. While incarcerated, he says, he was beaten on a daily basis.
 

"On the older housing estates near me, everyone is doing everything," says Lau. "Ice is very popular because it is long lasting, the girls like it for weight loss and it makes it easy for the boys and girls to have great sex."

"ADDICTION IS A DISEASE but it is a treatable disease and denial is to addiction what oxygen is to fire," says Vernon Hartshorne, a counsellor at the Central branch of The Cabin. Unfortunately, it seems, Hong Kong is in denial.
 

On May 13, Secretary for Security Lai Tung-kwok advised the Legislative Council: "The decline in the number of arrests of drug abusers mirrors the decline in the number of youth drug abusers recorded in the Central Registry of Drug Abuse. This testifies to the effectiveness of the government's anti-drug strategies as well as the concerted efforts of the government and the community in fighting drugs."
 

Lai, who was approached to comment for this article but didn't reply, may be correct and officials do sometimes qualify their encouraging statements with concerns over "hidden drug taking", but there are enough alarming signs to suggest there is little room for self-congratulation. Many on the front line believe that if a major social disaster caused by synthetic drugs is to be averted, a radical plan is required.
 

In the concluding chapter of his book, titled "Cleaning under the rug", Whisson wrote: "The addict is a fairly normal person for the most part" who needed persuasion that it was both possible and beneficial to treat drug addiction. Half a century later, the sense of complacency in government is still apparent but perhaps the most consistent parallel with his observations is the refusal by society, including many health professionals, to accept that addicts do not necessarily have an acute moral failing or weakness that requires moral salvation or redemption.
 

The whole language of drug addiction in Hong Kong is still laced with shame, stigma and morality, which is only counterproductive, because it stigmatises those who need help and keeps the problem latent, or as Whisson put it so succinctly five decades ago, "under the rug".

[Guest Guest]

Drugs is on t the increase everywhere ! Not confine to HK only ......that's why so many siao siao customers and friends .....

[Guest Bryan]

Just passing thru SG and saw this thread. Thought to leave my 2cts. 1 time use of meth can kill you if you overdose. Being 1st time, one might not know what is a "dose". Another risk, one might have a congenital or pre-existing condition like an aneurism, and spike in blood pressure from meth kills. Assuming one does not die upon 1st use, here are a few considerations: Use method, smoke or snort, discounting shooting as that would be very advanced and hardcore. Smoking and snorting if same drug makes the effect completely different on the person. Smoking has immediate but short lived and very intense peak lasting less than a minute if euphoria. Then the effect drips off relatively from the intense peak, but has a longer term effect of perhaps 30 mins up to an hour in the background of rushes. The addiction many describe, but don't understand well is like this: The user seeks that intense first few 3-5 peak of euphoria again, which as fantastic. But, after those early tries, the user tries to use more and more frequently to try in vain to recreate those first few peaks. But the brain has been desensitized to the drug and using higher doses dies not come close to recreating that level if euphoria. The baseline background level effect also increases, but because of the increased doses and frequency, the user also acclimates, and a lower background level, like from the first tries, can no longer be felt. This is the mechanism if the highly addictive nature many users describe, but most people lack the clarity of thought to understand what is happening while having fun to realize that they are chasing an impossible to recreate memory of that elusive feeling from the first few peaks they enjoyed so much.

Think of it sort if analogous to someone who is used to eating such hot spicy foods such that he cannot taste any regular foods with subtle flavors because he has permanently either desensitized his brain to taste signals from his tongue, or has chemically burnt out his taste buds on the tongue. Both parts of this analogy has bearing in actual findings from science. Long term meth and MDMA (real xtc if ur so lucky to actually get this when otw seeking xtc in pill form, they are usually the ugly cousins on the streets, VN or CN chemists, come on) users are found by MRI scans to have significantly decreased neural receptor (serotonin specifically) activities in many parts of the brain. This is the chemically burnt out analogy. The serotonin producing sites stop making as much serotonin, which is supposed to carry signals from brain cell to brain cell past the synaptic gaps between the dendrites. I'm using googlable terms here not to impress you, but for those who care, you can deep dive on my post to learn more. This does not happen from just a few trial uses, but from long term but even irregular use. Consuming a dozen "xtc"-like pills over a year at 1-2 pills per circuit party or rave type event counts as irregular but long term use, especially if done for several years as circuit boys might do. This same damage can likely happen after just a few PnP sessions due to the intensity from smoking (a concentrated acid will burn your skin, but a weak acid may just cause redness and irritation) and the frequency used which leaves a fairly high background level of the meth in the body for several days.

This brings me back to the 2nd way meth is used, snorting and how it contrasts with smoking. The effect is just like using two different drugs. Snorting any drugs is very inefficient as a drug delivery method. Study suggests 80% is wasted by not ending up being absorbed into the mucous membranes in and behind the nose, back if the throat areas. A lot is trapped in the nasal hairs, most of the drugs end up as buggers and snot when someone blows or OTW cleans out their nose. Hey, I'm not talking glamor here. Some of the lost drugs may make it to the stomach ad post nasal drip, at which time, whether it survives the digestive tract or not depends on the drug. It is possible to get poisoned but not get high if the digestion process breaks down the drugs but into metabolites which are still toxic, right? So, snorting gives the user a long, low level buzz which can be felt for 12-24 hours depending on dosage, body weight and the make up of your nose (see above). If in the absense of smoking, then the low level euphoria can be appreciated. A person can function like this as used by Axis soldiers and pilots during war. Gotta go, will finish up later if I get any response. Don't want to type to a dead thread. Just trying to help. Bryan

[Oogachagacare]

 

 

The BBC is releasing a special report into the culture of chem sex

Full interview: http://www.gaytimes.co.uk/Interact/Blogs.aspx?articleid=15357

 

We speak to its creator Mobeen Azhar…

Chem sex is an act that’s becoming increasingly popular on London’s gay scene, and the effects can see some users taking part in weekend-long sex parties involving multiple partners, known as ‘chill outs’. 

And both chill outs and chem sex will be the subject of a special report on BBC Radio 4 tonight, put together by award-winning journalist and filmmaker Mobeen Azhar. 

For Radio 4’s The Report, Mobeen speaks to men entrenched in this lifestyle and explores the impact of the so-called ‘chem sex’ scene on public health services. It’s a scene where unsafe sex can be coming, and has been cited by health workers as a contributing factor in the rising number of HIV infections in London. 

More often than not, chem sex parties involve an ‘unholy trinity’ of drugs, made up of crystal meth, GHB and mephedrone. And the parties themselves are being fuelled by social and dating apps, which has triggered a social shift where gay and bisexual men are moving out of bars and clubs and into private homes, out of reach of sexual health and drug advice services. 

Throughout Mobeen’s career, he’s made documentaries about sex work, the Taliban and sectarian violence. Now, we ask him why he turned his attention to London’s chem sex scene, what he found out and whether or not drugs really are ravaging our gay scene. 

 

When did you first hear about chem sex and chill outs, and why did you decide to turn your attention to it? 

I’ve noticed in recent years that numerous references to ‘chems’, ‘chill outs’ and ‘g-comas’ have become part of our communities peripheral vocabulary. I wanted to know if chems were really ‘ravaging’ the gay scene as some reports have suggested and if there was anything more to chems than the age old story of sex and drugs being a palatable cocktail for some gay men. I also wanted chem users to tell their own stories in their own words. 

You must’ve heard a whole manner of different stories during your investigation – what surprised you the most? 

I spent a lot of time building up the trust and confidence of contributors as they were sharing such intimate detail. I thought I’d heard everything but when I asked one contributor about the most extreme thing he’d been involved in, he told me a story about a man being ‘tripple fisted’. The camera man and the producer both winced and I think we all had to take a moment to digest what we had just been told. 

The biggest revelation was the emergence of key themes regarding why people use chems. I’d read some accounts of chem use in a defiant, almost romantic way, as if to say having group sex on tap, fuelled by meth, G and crystal could signal the ultimate sexual liberation. I actively searched for someone to tell me how they’d made an informed and calculated choice to use chems and, that for them, the chem scene is just recreation. Among the dozens of research interviews I did, I couldn’t find this voice. Even those who told me sex on chems made them feel “like a don” would follow up such celebratory statements with tales of rejection, regret, loneliness and longing for intimacy. These became reoccurring themes among every chem user I spoke to. 

Did you find that people were forthcoming to tell you about their experiences? 

I spent a lot of time meeting people in Soho, in Vauxhall, in coffee shops and even in their homes. Many of the contacts came via social media too. There were a few people who were angry that I was making the documentary, but overwhelmingly people were willing to share their story. The documentary features a handful of key contributors. Their stories were chosen because they represent the breadth and range of chem users. I think the testimony in the documentary is really strong and an accurate representation of the chem scene. 

 

So is this just a problem that’s isolated to the London gay scene? 

London and, in fact, Lambeth has the highest concentration of gay men in Britain. The numbers mean that chems are more of an issue in London than anywhere else in Britain, simply because there are more men who are engaging in the scene. Add to the mix the fact that one in every eight gay men in London is HIV positive compared to one in every 26 in the rest of the UK and it’s obvious why the prevalence of chem use is dangerous. 

So how do we combat chem sex? Is it something that can be stopped, or is it more of a case that we have to make it a safer experience for those who partake? 

I think it’s valuable to talk about best practise, how not to overdose on ‘G’ and to actively engage with chem users regarding how their experience can be made safer. 

What’s unhelpful is the suggestion that speaking about the problems of chem use is ‘judgmental’. 

I recently saw chems described on a mainstream sexual health site as ‘awesome’. The article was about best practise and I appreciate the author probably thought words like ‘awesome’ will show a level of understanding. But I don’t think that’s helpful. I spent a lot of time with a lot of chem users and these substances are not ‘awesome’. Their use is often indicative of deep rooted problems and mixed with the anonymous sex on tap culture of smart phone apps, they can create a really dangerous scenarios. 

Sure, no one knows just how many men have become infected with HIV while using chems, but in a study published by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, a third of men surveyed described incidents of unintended unprotected sex while under the influence of chem sex drugs. All of the chem users I spoke to shared stories about increased risk taking while using ‘G’ Meph and Crystal. There’s nothing ‘awesome’ about that. 

 

In your report, you’re told that 100 gay men come through 56 Dean Street every month asking for help with their drug habits. What was your reaction to this statistic? 

The number of people asking for help with chem sex is actually a positive sign I think. I wish more people sought help. Sexual health workers confirmed again and again that much of the gay community is well informed when it comes to sexual health. But some men make a choice not to use a condom or take chems even though they know their ability to use condoms will be diminished. I think that’s a problem. One contributor told me he’d “rather have HIV than diabetes”. There was an inevitability in that statement. Despite the huge leaps in HIV treatment , it’s important to remember that HIV infection requires a lifetime of medication. It’s not easy or fun to manage. 

There are gay men who’re risking falling into a coma just to try and enhance their sex life. And of course, people have died from taking too much G before. What can we do to stop this? 

I think it’s helpful to de-mystify chems. Chems are often perceived as exciting and exotic. The reality of chem sex isn’t glamourous. It’s actually quiet lonely and sad. Let’s have an honest conversation about the reasons people use chems. If we can create a culture in which people can express and understand these things, I think that’s a real leap forward. 

So it’s a lonely and sad lifestyle? How damaging is chem sex on the mental state of gay men? 

The contributors that I met all described how chem sex became a tool to avoid dealing with anxiety. I also heard many anecdote’s about the lack of any real satisfaction. A contributor called Kiran explained how he was constantly looking for more extreme experiences. More partners and more chems. He described how men would often look for sex on apps while having sex at a chem party. This notion of constantly looking for something that just can’t be found can be really damaging. 

Do you think the rise in chem sex is something that could be linked to a diminishing gay scene? And how responsible are social apps like Grindr? 

It says a lot that many apps will reprimand users for posting a picture of a penis on their profile while they have no objection to the use of pill emojis and terms like ‘GMTV’ – That’s ‘G’, Meph, Tina, Viagra, not Good Morning Television. There’s an argument that chastising chem use on apps would just shift the problem to other forums. I think that’s true to some extent, but undoubtedly hook up apps have normalised chem use and anonymous sex. Many contributors told me how apps play a part in the supply of chems too. 

Regarding the diminishing scene, a contributor like Jack, who’s 22, told me how he had always used social media to facilitate sex. He told me, “I don’t have the confidence to talk to someone in a bar or a club.” That doesn’t sound like a good place. 

Dave Stuart from the Dean Street Clinic is featured in the documentary. He explained that: “The reason so many gay men use chems is a search for intimacy. Gay men often grow up keeping a secret. They grow up being hyper vigilant and not sharing who they really are. That is the direct opposite of intimacy. They come of age into a sexualised gay scene where they try to navigate hook-up apps, normalised drug use and risky sex. They try to incorporate intimacy, but with no frame of reference.” 

The sooner we acknowledge that chem use is most often rooted in complex problems, the sooner we can put help in place. 

 

[doncoin]

The thing with PnP (Party and play) is usually a combination of drugs are involved. Meth will give you the high etc. keep you awake, and give you that rush. But it also makes you lose your erection. Hence, viagra is usually accompanied by it in those scenarios. 

 

 

It is just plain stupid the whole concept. 

[GachiMuchi]

Here is the audio version of the BBC Chem Sex Report.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b060blkz

[Guest Seoulmate23]

http://www.vice.com/en_uk/video/watch-the-trailer-for-our-new-film-chemsex-422

Trailer for upcoming documentary on gay chemsex

Movie will be release on 4th Dec, I'll be watching it in the UK by then. But let's discuss what motivates people go high and bare?

It is not just a phenomenon in EU but in Asia as well, Singapore has loads of people doing it,

But WHY?! I was shocked when this really good looking guy msg me telling he was in a hotel room nearby just 'chilling' with his friends. PLURAL. I gave him a lecture and he blocked me...

Chemsex: the name given to the rising phenomenon which refers to the use of drugs in a sexual context. Often referring to group sex that can last for days, the allure of chemsex has led to many young men being trapped in a vicious circle of sex, addiction and dependence.

This powerful and potent film tells the stories of gay men whose lives have been affected by the crisis; from self-confessed 'slammers' to sexual health workers, from those who deny there's a problem to those who 'got out alive'. Offering unprecedented access, Chemsex is a brave and unflinching journey into the dark underworld of modern, urban gay life.

A statement from the directors:

Chemsex is a confessional show-and-tell about a community's search for intimacy and belonging, in what are all too often the wrong places. This search creates a parallel reality, a secret world where people hide their addiction in plain sight, living in a cycle of extreme pleasure and pain, validation and isolation.

What started as a look into a 'healthcare emergency', soon evolved into a complex revelation. It wasn't the sex or the drugs that shocked. Neither was it the danger or the consequences. It was the realisation that, for the majority of people, it was intimacy and not lust nor hedonism that was the driving force behind their behavior.

The decision to turn a camera on this subject came from seeing first-hand how this community were starting to respond to this crisis. From anonymous voices on social networks to an NHS sexual health clinic creating the first ever position for a drugs worker on premises, it became clear to us that 'chemsex' was pushing people's physical and mental health to breaking point, not to mention the resources of those on the frontline trying to stem this epidemic.

The film, we hope, touches upon wholly universal notions of internalised shame, cycles of self-destruction and eventual redemption through this very modern and little known health emergency.

- William Fairman & Max Gogarty

[Guest Guest]

These people, they burn out very quickly and look like shit.

That good looking guy is using fake pic.

They still call themselves lean fit twinks but their faces look sunken in.

[stock85bp]

is there any existing initiative within the community to actively discourage the use of drugs/chem in sex? this issue is pervasive, highly risky, and of major concern. 

I think there should be a concerted effort to spread awareness of this. :/

[cutejack]

I wonder y too.too many gays into this sex.hmmm

[Guest Don't Do It]

The CNB (ie, Singapore's drug busting unit) can haul you up even you only chill overseas. Remember the druys stay in your system and urine test will show you did it even after the event when you return to Singapore.

 
Under Singapore Misuse of Drugs Act (CHAPTER 185)
 

Consumption of drug outside Singapore by citizen or permanent resident

 

8A.—

(1) Section 8(b) shall have effect in relation to a person who is a citizen or a permanent resident of Singapore outside as well as within Singapore where he is found as a result of urine tests conducted under section 31(4)( b) to have smoked, administered to himself or otherwise consumed a controlled drug or a specified drug.

[20/98; 2/2006]

 

(2) Where an offence under section 8(b) is committed by a person referred to in subsection (1) in any place outside Singapore, he may be dealt with as if that offence had been committed within Singapore.

 

Read some old blowinWind sharing at http://www.blowingwind.org/forum/index.php?showtopic=4740

[btmslut]

I guess its quite common. I get requests like that that all the time. Turned them all down even if their pics are hot.

The scary part is sometimes i play along and say i'm into that and raw, and always without fail, they come back with a "ok"

[stock85bp]

Maybe grindr should have stricter policy against drug /chemical sex solicitation.

[fmen]

just finished watching it, a scary but valuable documentary. Why is our life getting better but this problem becoming worse... 

 

btw, if anyone is interested in watching the documentary just leave a msg and i will private u the link to watch it.

Edited January 31, 2016 by fmen

[Guest]

Can upload it to youtube as a private movie then share the link here.

 

 

[Guest Orgy]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/film/Chemsex/review/

 

Prurient peepshow value is thankfully thin on the ground in this harrowing documentary about a gay subculture

Sex and psychoactive drugs unleash neurochemicals in the brain that can take us out of ourselves, make us feel better than ourselves, or even fuse us – in temporary but ecstatic union – with our fellow human beings. Being drawn to experiment with both at once, like sparking two electrical currents to produce an explosion of euphoria, is a growing temptation. The new documentary Chemsex understands it, rather more gravely, as an enormous risk.

This film focuses specifically on one extreme subculture on the London gay scene. Drug-fuelled sex parties aren’t a new phenomenon. But mobile-phone apps such as Grindr have brought them much closer to the average gay man’s reach: if you wanted to go looking for a crystal meth orgy these days, you could find it with just a few swipes of an iPhone.

For a lot of vulnerable men on the scene – like the city boy interviewed here who lost his job and turned to prostitution to pay for the habit – chemsex promises a sense of escape so overwhelming that sobriety feels like hell.

Directors William Fairman and Max Gogarty take a serious-minded approach to the psychological scars this behaviour both masks and worsens. The fear of HIV that inhibited the sex lives of so many men in the 1980s and 1990s is far from vanquished, but the oblivion of chemsex can offer the illusion that it is.

 

Because the virus is now medically considered more treatable than diabetes, many promiscuous gay men would prefer to know they have HIV than worry about getting it. Some even seek it out. This is a reckless strain on national health resources, of course, but should probably be looked at as a form of mental illness – a self-immolation in the most dangerous underground forms of sexual self-expression.

Prurient peepshow value in this frequently harrowing film is thankfully thin on the ground. The music, by contemporary composer/producer Danny L Harle, is dark, driving, sombre and mournful. One of the main interviewees is the substance abuse expert David Stuart, an advisor at London’s Soho sexual health clinic on Dean Street, who has many strong ideas for therapy and treatment.

 

It’s a subject that could lend itself to salacious tabloid scaremongering – and in wanting to put out such a cautionary message, the filmmakers might give that superficial false impression. But their concern, chiefly speaking, is for the lives already affected, not for a mainstream determined to steer well clear.

The phenomenon of chemsex – which the British Medical Journal has called to be classed as a public health priority – is viewed here as a dangerous, ever-deepening chasm that can trap those with unconventional sex lives. Building bridges out of there won’t happen in the dark.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZLqFHVnaMs&feature=youtu.be

 

 

 

[Topdownunder]

Is this a big problem in Singapore too?

[G_M]

Yes, Chem Sex or Sex with drugs is a problem for many countries and Singapore is no exception.

 

As moderators, we are strongly against drugs in our forum.

 

We will not hesitate to ban those who post such ads.

[Guest Concerned]

Hi guys,

 

I need your suggestions or resources to help my friend I just met online to snap out of the "<<No Drugs Posting>>" circle... he's quite young, in 20s and yet so well versed in using drugs (and chemistry behind them!). During our first meeting for coffee, he was very nice and honest with me when he shared that he used recreational drugs. He appeared to be very sweet that I felt comfortable to talk to him about anything without being judged. I was quite curious about his knowledge and experience with it, so I asked more about it. Be mindful that I am a bit older than him yet I know nothing about chem sex. The more I learn, the more appalled I was. And I wished I didn't ask about it. I usually prefer to stay away from those kind of people for my own safety. Just that he didn't reveal his secret until our first meeting. I think he revealed to me because he felt comfortable talking to me. 

 

I fear for his health and personal security due to his young age. He's still young and healthy and has much more useful things to do in life than destructing himself. Also I do not wish for him to be arrested or be at mercy of drug lords. I'm still in touch with him, trying to encourage him to break off his drug addiction.

 

So guys, please advise me how to help him... should i refer him to the appropriate counseling helplines? Which one? Or would it be better for me to stay away from him and mind my own business? So sad for him.