Sex and drugs going hand in hand is nothing new. But when things are taken to extreme lengths – such as in the world of chemsex – the door is opened to criminality on a vast scale.
Patrick Strudwick’s reporting has drawn attention to the individuals and criminal gangs involved in exploiting the murky world of chemsex parties for their own gain, and he joins us in this week’s episode of The i Podcast.
It’s a world in which men meet each other for sex under the influence of drugs like meth and GHB and is mostly consensual – but not always, and the numbers speak for themselves.
In the largest-ever survey of men involved in the chemsex scene found that more than a quarter have been sexually assaulted while on GHB, nearly half had been given drugs without their knowledge and one in five had been deliberately overdosed.
But the criminality extends beyond the actions of individuals as criminal gangs are now piling in to exploit the lucrative opportunities presented by this world. Patrick gives his insights after years reporting on the subject and tells us what needs to change to stop people being harmed.
If you have been affected by the issues in this episode contact these charities for support:
https://londonfriend.org.uk/sex-and-chemsex/
Produced by Julia Webster. The executive producer is Albert Evans and the assistant producer is Phoebe Fleming.
Music featured is by Michael Kobrin and Lexin Music - licensed via Pixabay.
Check out their music here.
https://pixabay.com/music/modern-classical-the-introvert-michael-kobrin-10959/
https://pixabay.com/users/lexin_music-28841948/
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
