Basic HTML Version
DDN
reports on the National Aids Trust’s call for urgent action
News focus |
Analysis
DO EMERGING DRUGUSE TRENDS IN
PARTS OF LONDON’SGAY SCENE RISK
CREATING A NEW HEALTH CRISIS?
6 |
drinkanddrugsnews
| April 2013
www.drinkanddrugsnews.com
Late last month NAT (the National
Aids Trust) wrote to London
councils calling for action to
address the ‘recent and rapid rise’
in the use of crystal meth, mephe-
drone and GHB/GBL on London’s
gay scene, particularly ‘in the con-
text of high risk sex’ (see page 4).
In a very short period this has
become ‘one of the most pressing
issues for gay men’s health’, the
letter states, with the three drugs
responsible for 85 per cent of all
presentations to Antidote, the
capital’s only LGBT drug support
service, last year, compared to just 3
per cent in 2005.
‘The vast majority use these three
drugs to facilitate sex’, the letter
states, with further evidence of the
connection between sexual health
risk and problematic drug use in the
rise in referrals to Antidote from
sexual health clinics – up from 8 per
cent of presentations in 2005 to 63
per cent in 2012.
Worryingly, the number of crystal
meth and mephedrone users injecting
the drugs in a sexual context leapt
from 20 per cent in 2011 to 80 per
cent in 2012, with 70 per cent of
those injecting reporting sharing
needles. Around 75 per cent of the
men using Antidote’s services are HIV
positive, with 60 per cent failing to
adhere to their HIV treatment when
under the influence of drugs.
‘We’d obviously known for many
years that there was significant drug
use on the gay scene,’ NAT’s director
of policy and campaigns, Yusef Azad,
tells
DDN
. ‘What has changed is the
sort of drugs that are used and the
context in which they’re used. We’d
heard about crystal meth in the US
and I recall asking health promoters
in the UK about it and being told it
wasn’t an issue here, but it became
an issue and I’d guess about three to
four years ago we first started
hearing anecdotal reports of
slamming [injecting], as it’s known.’
The overall prevalence of this sort
of drug use remains unclear, and one
priority is for more research, he
stresses. ‘What is clear is that there
is enough of this sort of drug use
going on for it to be very problematic
for the health of the individuals
concerned. There have been a few
deaths, and certainly a real
transmission risk around HIV and
hepatitis C. Maybe what we can say
is that among some gay men who
were engaged in risk activity, their
risk is becoming even higher risk as
a result of these changes in drug use
and sexual behaviour.’
The letter also cites evidence
from Chelsea and Westminster
Hospital’s Club Drug Clinic and the
56 Dean Street sexual health clinic
that reflect Antidote’s findings. ‘I
think it shows there’s something of a
health crisis, without wishing to be
sensational, that we need to act on
now – speedily, effectively and
urgently,’ he says.
Does he feel that drug services
are geared up to respond? ‘No,’ he
states. ‘We held a roundtable in
January on HIV and injecting drug
use generally, but what was
fascinating was how the gay men’s
issue really shot up the agenda. One
of the things that was clear is that
traditional drug services – which we
absolutely support and which have
done amazing work – are used to
opiate users, used to providing harm
reduction with needle and syringe
packs with citric acid for heroin use.
They’re not necessarily trained in
what harm reduction means for these
‘The number of crystal meth
and mephedrone users injecting
the drugs in a sexual context
leapt from 20 per cent in 2011
to 80 per cent in 2012, with
70 per cent of those injecting
reporting sharing needles.’