THEGAYUK

Tag: Drugs

All the latest breaking news on Drugs. Browse THEGAYUK’s complete collection of news, articles and commentary on Drugs.

  • What does 420 mean on dating apps?

    What does 420 mean on dating apps?

    If you come across a guy’s profile and it says he’s into 420, it means that he’s into getting high with cannabis (weed, pot, grass). This is quite popular amongst some gay and bi men as it relaxes and heightens sensitivity throughout the whole experience. It can reduce stress, which is also great for those who have anxiety-related erectile dysfunction.

    However, you have to pick the right weed if you’re planning to have sex. Sativa products, those products which are made from the Cannabis sativa plant are considered better by some because they can help lift your mood, heighten your sensitivity and intensify orgasm, however, some people have suggested that it can make your mind wander. Some users suggest Indica for “mind-blowing” sex.

    What does 420 mean?

    Some cannabis strains or more powerful drugs like skunk will leave you too relaxed to get much done, or you may find it impossible to concentrate, climax or perform.

    As with most drugs, cannabis and the various strains will affect different people in different ways.

    7raysmarketing / Pixabay

    Advice from TalkToFrank suggests, “…only take cannabis when you’re feeling happy and relaxed, in a safe environment, and with people you’re comfortable with”.

    And again with the lube

    (C) BIGSTOCK

    Don’t forget to use lots of lube and if you’re looking for a way to relax during sex and don’t quite fancy the idea of smoking weed or taking an edible, why not try CDB lube. CBD is legal in the UK and could be a great way to relax.

    Remember, depending on how you take cannabis, the effects can take a while to subside. Effects can last from 10 minutes to an hour if you smoke weed. Ingesting cannabis through an edible could take between two and four hours, according to TalkToFrank.

    Don’t forget as with any sex and drug-taking to use lube and if you’re not sure about your partner’s sexual health status, use condoms. To stop the passing on HIV you might want to use PrEP as well.

    Cannabis is still illegal in the UK and is classified as a Class B drug – which means it is illegal to have for yourself, give away or sell.

    If you’re wanting to talk to someone about addiction or have an issue with your or your partner’s drug usage you can reach out to TalkToFrank for more information.

    Check out more gay dating terms.

  • Dealer who used Grindr to sell Chemsex drugs jailed for nearly a decade

    Dealer who used Grindr to sell Chemsex drugs jailed for nearly a decade

    A prominent ‘Chemsex’ scene drug dealer, who used the hook up app, Grindr to set up parties and sell drugs to its users, has been sentenced to nearly a decade in jail for possession with intent to supply Class A and C drugs.

    Angelo Jardim, 49 (11.12.68) of Landor Road, SW9, who is originally from Portugal, was arrested on 15 September, 2017 by officers from Lambeth after intelligence suggested his property was being used to deal drugs.

    Officers carried out a raid of his property and seized Class A drugs and around £13,000 in cash. He was arrested on suspicion with intent to supply.

    During the raid, officers found Jardin had access to another address on Voltaire Road, SW4. They carried out a raid on this property and found large quantities of Class A and C drugs.

    He was charged on 15 September, 2017, with six counts with possession to supply Class A, B and C drugs.

    He pleaded guilty at Inner London Crown Court on Tuesdayy, 20 February 2018 and was sentenced at the same court on Tuesday, 20 February to nine years and ten months in jail.

    PC Francis Stanton attached to Lambeth Proactive unit, commented: “Jardim was a prominent member of the Chemsex scene; organising parties and selling drugs to a large amount of men he met of the dating app, Grindr.

    “Previously, a lot of Chemsex scene criminals were going under the radar, and not being detected, however we are making significant headway in the way we catch these criminals. Not only do they break the law by dealing drugs, but they also have a negative impact on families, and communities, by getting people addicted to illegal substances.”

  • Louis Theroux’s new documentary looks harrowing

    Trust Theroux to get right to the nub of the problem

    Louis Theroux's new documentary looks harrowing
    America has a love affair with prescription painkillers, which has led to a widespread dependency on opiates, but following a crackdown on over-prescription, two million Americans are finding new ways to feed their habit.
    With the pills now becoming increasingly expensive and scarce on the black market, vast numbers of Americans have turned to the cheaper and stronger opiate: heroin. The drug now claims more lives in the US than either car accidents or gun crime. And, for the first time in over two decades, life expectancy in the US is declining – largely attributed to the rise in fatal heroin overdoses.

    In Huntington, West Virginia, Louis Theroux embeds himself in an Appalachian community that is being devastated and stretched to its limits by widespread heroin use. With one in ten babies in the city born dependent on opiates and a fatal overdose rate 13 times the national average, this is the epicentre of the most deadly drug epidemic in US history.

    Louis spends time with the user community caught in the vice-like grip of drug misuse and follows the emergency services struggling to cope with multiple overdoses each day.

    Louis Theroux: Dark States – Heroin Town BBC Two on 8 October at 9pm

     

  • Man pleads guilty to supplying drugs to the Grindr killer Stephen Port

    Man pleads guilty to supplying drugs to the Grindr killer Stephen Port

    A man has admitted in court that he supplied drugs to convicted killer, Stephen Port who murdered four young men in London between 2015 and 2016.

    Gerald Matovu
    CREDIT: Met Police

    Gerald Matovu, 23, of Great Guildford Street, Southwark SE1 pleaded guilty at Southwark Crown Court on Tuesday, 28 March to supplying class B drug mephedrone (commonly known as Meow Meow), and class C drug GHB to Port between 1 July and 31 August 2015.

    He also admitted offering to supply GHB to Port between the same dates. He will be sentenced on Wednesday, 26 April. 

    The offences came to light during the investigation into Port’s extensive crimes. 

    Stephen Port, 42, a chef, of Cooke Street, Barking, was sentenced to a whole life term in November 2016 for the murder of four young gay men and drugging and sexually assaulting another seven victims.

    Port bought the drugs from Matovu for use during consensual sex with his partner. Phone records and downloads from electronic devices belonging to Port clearly showed contact with Matovu and Port had described Matovu as his drug dealer to his partner.

    In messages, Matovu told Port he had “loads of G” and asked how much he wanted.

    Matovu was arrested on 15 June 2016 and charged on 27 October 2016.

    The IPCC is to undertake interviews with 17 Met Police officers as part of their investigation into the service’s response to the deaths of Anthony Walgate, Gabriel Kovari, Daniel Whitworth, and Jack Taylor – the victims of Stephen Port’s serial killings.

     

  • Police target two London gay clubs in drug bust

    Police target two London gay clubs in drug bust

    The Metropolitan Police have arrested three men after drug busts at two London clubs following an “intelligence-led operation”.

    police target gay clubs
    © jvanderwolf Depositphotos.com

    Two gay clubs in London were raided in the early hours of Friday morning by the Metropolitan Police. They arrested three men after a “quantity of suspected Class A drugs” were found on one of the premises.

    Officers entered Vauxhall clubs, Fire and Lightbox and searched customers and members of staff. The venues were also searched.

    According to police reports two 30-year-old men were arrested at Lightbox on suspicion of possession of Class A drugs. One of the men arrested is a staff member of Lightbox. The other man was additionally arrested on suspicion of breaching a court order. A third man, aged 28 was arrested at the same venue on suspicion of handling stolen goods.

    All three were taken into custody at a south London police station where they remain.

    No one was arrested at Fire.

    Chief Inspector Lance Lamnea, of Lambeth borough, said,

    “This operation was based on intelligence that indicated harmful substances were being sold at these nightclubs. We are committed to supporting a vibrant night time economy in the capital, but where we suspect offences are taking place we must take swift action to protect the public.

    “In this case, anti-social behaviour – believed to be generated by those attending the clubs – has been having a detrimental effect on the lives of those living and working in the area.

    “We will be working closely with both the clubs’ management and our partners to ensure the continuing safety of the public and consider whether there will be any impact on licensing issues.”

     

  • Clinic Gains Funds To Run Club Drug Clinic For London Boroughs

    Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust (CNWL) has been funded to run a Club Drug Clinic specifically for the London boroughs of Hammersmith & Fulham, Kensington & Chelsea and Westminster.

    The CNWL Club Drug Clinic is a dedicated service for anyone who has developed problems with ‘club drugs’ including students, clubbers and a range of other users. In partnership with the Antidote/London Friend service, the CNWL Club Drug Clinic also provides a culturally competent specialist service for LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transsexual) people.

    The clinic’s staff are addictions experts who specialise in problems associated with psychoactive drugs including GBL/GHB, Mephedrone, Ketamine, Methamphetamine, MDMA, legal highs and research chemicals.

    The multi-disciplinary team provides a range of evidence-based tailored treatment and recovery interventions including, medically assisted detoxification, psychological therapies, peer support, family work and assistance with employment.

    The clinic also offers a range of additional services including on-site sexual health screening including HIV and blood borne viruses, mental health assessment and referral and liaison and referral for physical health problems including ketamine-related bladder harm. The service is at the forefront of developing the research evidence.

    Consultant Psychiatrist Dr Owen Bowden-Jones, who established the clinic in 2010, said;

    “UK drug services have traditionally focused on heroin and crack cocaine addiction. Club drugs, such as Ketamine, Mephedrone, GBL and so called legal highs, present new challenges. These drugs are often used by people who don’t fit the traditional stereotype of a drug user. Instead, our clients tend to be working professionals in their 20s and 30s who started taking drugs socially in clubs or at University.

    “Despite the common reputation of club drugs as relatively harmless and recreational, the clinic has seen club drug use escalate and cause psychological, physical and social problems such as psychosis, dependence and relationship breakdown. These issues are similar to the problems we see with more traditional drugs.”

    For more information about the clinic, visit www.clubdrugclinic.com.

  • Poison Warning For Mushroom Pickers After Dozens Fall Ill

    Every year dozens of people all over the UK have to seek medical advice after picking and eating wild mushrooms which then make them ill.

    This is because some varieties which grow wild in the United Kingdom are poisonous and can make foragers ill when consumed: some types can even be fatal. Foragers should remember that the poisons in some of the most dangerous wild mushrooms are generally not destroyed by cooking.

    So far this year the Public Health England commissioned National Poisons Information Service (NPIS) has been consulted for advice on 84 cases, and with the foraging season now underway the medics are sounding their warnings once again. The NPIS is contacted by frontline medics who need expert assistance when dealing with poisonings.

    Dr John Thompson, Director of the NPIS unit in Cardiff, said, ‘As the weather starts to change many people will soon be heading out to the countryside to seek out wild food which can be a really fun thing to do.

    ‘But when it comes to wild mushrooms people really need to be aware of the very real potential dangers involved, it is always at this time of year that we see a noticeable increase in poisoning cases.

    ‘This is because while many mushrooms growing in the wild are tasty and safe to eat, it is not always easy to differentiate between toxic and non-toxic species even for people with experience in foraging.

    ‘That’s why we say that people should not eat mushrooms collected in the wild unless they are very familiar with the various types that grow in the UK and are sure that the mushrooms that they have collected are safe to eat.’

    In 2013 the NPIS was contacted about 237 times after people who had eaten mushrooms fell ill, and reports came to the service from every region of the UK.

    Many of those involved were children under 10 who had eaten mushrooms, but some enquiries were about adults who developed illness after consuming mushrooms that they had collected in the wild. Because of the risk of severe poisoning after accidental consumption of toxic mushrooms, the NPIS experts are warning foragers to take care when picking mushrooms and only to consume those that they know to be safe to eat.

    Dr John Harrison, Director of PHE’s Centre for Radiation, Chemicals and Environmental Hazards, which commissions NPIS, said, ‘ People heading outdoors this autumn, whether it’s to gather wild mushrooms or just to enjoy the great British countryside, should be aware of the dangers that mushrooms can pose. Correctly identifying the mushrooms that are safe to pick and eat is the key to ensuring that foraging is good fun and does not endanger health.’

  • OPINION: Slam Is The New Snort

    Drug plateaus seem to be getting higher and higher, drug users are striving for the next level of euphoria. Taking shots of paint stripper in one room and slamming (injecting) meow (Mephedrone) in the next.

    Slammers are the black belt of drug users and are usually sneaky, solo, or in a syndicate when using. However, recently I have noticed a change in that people who inject find the practice quite normal and on occasion have even peacocked the process in front of others at house parties.

     

    Back at the Doll House (my debauchery den, aka Home). I allowed (very polite of them to ask in the first place) someone at a party to inject heroin on the condition that I could watch.

     

    Is that sick?

     

    Probably.

     

    My agreement only came from a selfish scheme to see it for the first time up close. I had such a fascination with the process, definitely an intrigue- But I knew with my existing addictions at the time, that really would have been the end of me.

     

    Friends or people that I know who have tried slamming have not been able to get the same rush from the things they were able to once before (snorting etc). One even saying that after injecting meow, there had been a pandora’s box after-effect of wanting to smash and grab any substance that was available to them when on the mission of destination trash.

     

    Perhaps Pandora’s box is too glamorous a term in this instance. Can of worms is probably more appropriate. On the subject of glamour, where do you see any in that tourniquet between your teeth tightening its grip to summon a juicy vein? (A slammer once told me I had beautiful veins… sorry what?). Where is the attraction of bruised and sliced arms that conjures others concern until you falsely blame your vicious bitchy cat, or that notorious door?

     

    It put me right off my special K breakfast watching someone’s skin literally crawling and quivering like something out of a sci-fi horror as they were coming up after injecting meow.

     

    They proceeded to be vacant for the next hour or so. We watched him in horror praying that we wouldn’t all of a sudden come out of a K-hole and realise we had in fact been staring at our reflections all along. Someone that slams, or anyone for that matter may ask me, how can you be so critical when you have never tried it? My immediate answer would be “I do not want to die”. What I’m really saying is, “I am a drug snob”. Both are not really valid answers. Drug users, especially those with dependence are delusional about death. Thinking it won’t happen to them because they use responsibly, or they have done the research on statistics and actually it’s alcohol that kills more people per year- anything they can scrounge to justify a few more weekends, months, years of partying. I was (somehow) able to justify continuing snorting shortly after coming to from passing out and hyperventilating. I have spent far too much time attempting to justify my drug use. I was actually really shocked when I was told / witnessed people injecting meow at parties. I just didn’t see the point in it. If the gay scene didn’t have a bad enough drug reputation with the likes of GHB, it certainly will soon with the injection of meow, and in some instances, heroin. GHB (after taking too much) and injecting substances both have really anti-social effects. You may as well be in a room on your own.

    The BBC published a story recently on Brighton & Hove potentially soon to create drug-use room facilities(“shooting galleries”), where trained health workers observe and monitor the user during the process, which proves the severity of the city’s problem if we are the pilot.

     

    Did you know that the average age now for someone to try heroin is 21?! The World Health Organisation has also stated on average, injecting drugs causes one out of every ten new HIV infections.

     

    I suppose my concern is that if we are becoming familiar with injecting drugs such as meow, and for young adults to enter the club / party / after party scenes and seeing this going on around them, this will become another part of our and their normality. Your defences are down under the influence of alcohol or drugs, and I will openly say that when slamming has been going on around me, my finger has hovered above the “f**k it” button.

     

    However some people may not have the fortunate outcome that I did, and they could end up hitting that button and injecting. And if you’ve already injected meow then why the hell not have a go at heroin?

     

    Recreational / regular users may have boundaries of where they would and wouldn’t go with drugs, but those can easily become open to question (or justified).

     

    June 26th is “World Drug Day” – A day dedicated to raising awareness of the global drug problem and illicit trafficking. This world will never be free of drugs, but what we can welcome is knowledge, and strength to keep it out of our social circles- with our next generation in mind. I would certainly not allow someone to inject in my home ever again and am annoyed at myself for allowing that to happen in the first place. I am all for these drug-use rooms Brighton & Hove may be installed as they are aiming to keep injecting separate, off the streets, and out of sight from others.

     

    Unfortunately, it’s likely that most reading this will have known or known of someone that has died through drugs- I will be remembering those that I have known on June 26th.

     

    If you’re affected by the subject of this article you can call the London Lesbian and Gay Switchboard on 0300 330 0630 or visit Frank

     

    Opinions expressed in this article may not reflect those of THEGAYUK, its management or editorial teams. If you’d like to comment or write a comment, opinion or blog piece, please click here.

  • OP ED | When A Vice Becomes Something More Sinister

    I imagine that we all have vices. In fact I wouldn’t believe someone if they told me that they didn’t have any. For some people smoking could be a vice. For others it could be the twenty cups of coffee they drink each day. As for me… well I’ve had many vices over the years and still do. On occasion those vices have developed into something more and this is what happened when one of them did.

    On discovering alcohol at age fourteen I soon began drinking regularly as many teenagers do. I was a drunken state most weekends and by the age of eighteen I was consuming about ten triple vodka and Red Bulls each Friday and Saturday night. I would end up not being able to walk and getting into some serious scrapes. At the same time I was also going out during the week with ‘friends’ and drinking about ten pints of lager each night. It was those people who introduced me to a little pill called Ecstasy.

    I was seventeen years old at the time and had a weekend job as well as going to school during the week. I wasn’t very popular due to being perceived to be gay. My only friends were other ‘freaks’ and I felt lost. I was desperate to be liked and to be popular. All I wanted in life was to be part of a cool crowd. One day that happened. A couple of lads I worked with, and looked up to, invited me out one evening. They said that I seemed alright and they wanted to show me what they get up to at night. The young homosexual in me was hoping that I would be getting some action as they were pretty hot, but actually it was all about drinking beer and shagging women. I wasn’t out to many people at that point and being desperate to fit in with people I thought were cool, I joined in with their nightly drinking sessions.

    One night we went to a dodgy pub which is well known for drug dealing and taking. My friends went to speak to a guy who looked like a dealer and I guessed what was going on. I come from a council estate which is straight out of Shameless so deem myself to be quite clued up. It didn’t stop me saying no when a pill was offered to me though. I declined at first, but when one of my friends said “go on, be one of the lads”, that was it. All I had wanted was to be one of the lads and fit in. So I took it. The next night I took another. The night after that I took another one. And it went on like that. I knew that I was doing something wrong, but I thought that it was what I needed to do to have some cool friends.

    As the months went by I was consuming an increasing amount of alcohol, taking a growing amount of pills, yet still going to school and my weekend job. It was beginning to take a toll on me though. I wasn’t doing as well as I had been at school and was making mistakes at work. I was beginning to look rougher and my personality was deteriorating. I had started to become reliant on Ecstasy because I felt it helped me get through life. It was no longer just about fitting in.

    One night it all came to a head and it would turn out to be the last time I ever took a drug. I was at a club with my so called friends and I remember dancing to Missy Elliot. When the song finished I walked off the dance floor and the next thing I remember is being woken up in my friend’s garden. It wasn’t a simple waking up though; I was face down in a bag of chips and being kicked as I wasn’t waking up. I came around, got up and was helped into bed.

    The next morning I realised that four hours were missing from the previous night. Between walking off the dance floor and being woken up in the garden, I had no idea what I did. To this day I still have no recollection of those four hours. My friends said that they had been looking for me and were worried as I had been “caning it”. I had consumed a lot of alcohol that night and I am unsure what else I took. I looked at my work shirt that I had worn that night and it had sick on it. I had to go to work that morning and buy a new shirt when I arrived. My manager looked at me with disgust and I felt disgusted in myself. It transpired that 23rd March 2002 would be my rock bottom date. I haven’t taken any drug since.

    After that I stopped associating with the people I thought were friends. They weren’t cool and I didn’t belong to that kind of crowd. I reconnected with my ‘freak’ friends and I am still connected to them now. I am also comfortable with being an outcast and a freak myself. It took a long time to get there, but it all turned out alright in the end. As for vices, my main ones are chocolate and Haribo Tangfastics. Not good for the waistline, but better than other stuff I used to consume.

    I’m not going to preach about how drugs are bad and you should just say no. As an adult you can make your own mind up. But if your vice is taking drugs, just keep a check on it. Don’t let it get out of control and ask yourself why you are doing it. I did it for all the wrong reasons and it really messed me up. Don’t let the same thing happen to you.

    If you are concerned about your drug taking or the habits of someone else, you can find support by clicking on the following link to the Antidote website. They are the UK’s only LGBT targeted drug and alcohol service. If you’re outside London, click on the Talk To Frank link.

    www.antidote-lgbt.com

    www.talktofrank.com

     

     

    Opinions expressed in this article may not reflect those of THEGAYUK, its management or editorial teams. If you’d like to comment or write a comment, opinion or blog piece, please click here.

  • COMMENT | A Life Of Cocaine Or Cake?

    Even though we may look at a person’s habit or behaviour and not agree with their chosen vice, who are we to judge?

    A vice is just like facial features, we all have them. Whilst some may bite their nails down until they bleed, others enjoy cigarettes and produce smoke like a house on fire. Surely we should appreciate each others differences and just learn to not force our views on others?

From a young age my Nan was an important person in shaping my character. Both my parents smoked and my Nan would provide a selection of leaflets to slowly give them. How can anyone refuse advice on smoking from a cute five-year-old? Either way, it worked. My Nan had judged my parents vice and through the use of children eventually got them to quit.

    My Nan also taught me about addiction to drugs and would always set up a scene where a ‘friend’ was in the school toilet telling me to smoke some marijuana and I would politely repeat – “No thank you. Please make your own decisions but I refuse”. As I got older it turned into the pub toilets and at eighteen she still made me repeat my refusal to ensure I had practised enough and wouldn’t become addicted to drugs.

    “I want to be president someday, so I have not smoked marijuana. I ate a brownie once. At a party in college. It was kind of indescribable really. I felt like I was floating. It turns out that there wasn’t any marijuana in it, it was just an insanely good brownie”

    – Leslie Knope.

    Whilst enjoying the scene of London, a friend soon became bored of weekends following the same routine and meeting the same faces and made the executive decision to move away towards a different atmosphere. I am non-judgmental and also a bit ‘happy-go-lucky’ when it comes down to making changes and adapting.

    Enjoying the drinks and music of somewhere new I disappeared to a toilet to relieve my child sized bladder. During this, a gentleman climbed over the locked door, pulled a small bag of cocaine out of his pocket and offered me some. I was not down for this, I once sniffed pepper to sneeze like in a Tom and Jerry sketch. It made me nose itch and I wanted to cry for days after from the burning feeling. With this in the back of my mind, I repeated my Nan’s line and proceeded to make line for the bar and back to the comfort of my friend.

My friend brushed off the incident and pointed out that most of the people attracted to the club in question where there for the recreational use of drugs. I then made my own executive decision to remove myself from the social circle and opted for an addiction of comedy shows and cake.

    I embraced a new life being single and looking for cake whilst my friend enjoyed the rush of drugs. He recently admitted his problem with an addiction that seemed fun at the time. It makes me wonder if I would have achieved everything positive in my life if I had crumbled in the toilet cubicle and said ‘yes’.

    My point is, who are we to judge the vices others place upon themselves when we all have our own that we either know and enjoy or are unaware of?

     

    Opinions expressed in this article may not reflect those of THEGAYUK, its management or editorial teams. If you’d like to comment or write a comment, opinion or blog piece, please click here.