What Is Chemsex?

Chemsex is well known in the gay community, but is little known in the mainstream. A new documentary from the UK intends to shed light on the issue. Gay men are using club drugs to fuel multi-hour sex sessions. Cenk Uygur, Brett Erlich (Pop Trigger), and Grace Baldridge hosts of The Young Turks discuss.

Have you heard of chemsex? Let us know in the comments below.

Read more here

“Mainstream awareness about "chemsex,” a little-discussed public health issue in the gay community, is on the rise. Programs like BBC Radio 4’s July segment on chemsex in London and Vice Media’s upcoming documentary on chemsex in England and Ireland shed light on what some say is a growing phenomenon of men using hardcore club drugs to fuel hours- or days-long sex sessions.

Chemsex generally involves taking substance like GHB, crystal meth or mephedrone (known as meow meow) to enhance or prolong sexual activity, primarily among a subset of city-dwelling gay men. Crystal meth and meow meow stimulate sexual arousal and euphoria, while GHB removes inhibitions.

Researchers suspect that the practice could be driving London’s rising HIV rates among young men, but the practice is so covert and the population of participants so small that not enough research exists about the topic.”