LGBTIQ activists seek more data on chemsex and risky behaviour

Gay rights activists are raising awareness over risky sexual behaviour in Malta where the increased use of drugs is directly influencing a rise in sexually-transmitted infections and diseases.

The Malta Gay Rights Movement will convene a webinar for the LGBTIQ community as well as educators and social workers seeking more information about the phenomenon.

Cynthia Chircop, MGRM chairperson, said the use of drugs to enhance sexual experience can open up participants to unsafe sex when not practiced safely.

“It may bring up issues around consent and negatively impact participants’ social, sex and work life. This is why it’s important that people who wish to partake in Chemsex do so responsibly and safely, by ensuring that condoms and lubricants are used to diminish STI transmission between partners, taking PrEP/ PEP to protect against HIV, regular STI testing, and setting of ground rules and boundaries amongst participants while sober prior to beginning their activities.”

Chircop said it was also important that drug paraphernalia such as needles and snorting equipment are not shared and kept for individual use.

“The rule of the thumb remains that where a person is having sex with multiple partners the risk will be greater. Advocating for abstinence has proven to be no solution, so safer sex guides should be followed. Internationally there are specialised chemsex guides that can be consulted online in order to ensure everyone is safe. We have been unable to adapt them for Malta simply because the data for Malta does not exist.”

MGRM campaigns for a comprehensive updated of Malta’s sexual health policy, never updated since 2010.

“Some of the solutions to reducing rates of HIV are to improve testing of HIV and other STIs by investing further in the GU clinic and give resources to NGOs such as Checkpoint Malta, which are carrying out community testing sessions. We need to increase education and awareness of preventive measures and testing, and making contraception, PrEP and PEP more accessible,” Chircop said.

Chircop also said that the lack of research on the taboo of chemsex continues to be an obstacle for the LGBTIQ+ community.

“The situation is worse even more so locally, with practically little no research at all being done on our local chemsex scene. There are no local statistics on chemsex, and we can only rely on international research on the topic.”

Drugs are the handmaiden of chemsex – the portmanteau for chemical and sex – and while the 1960s are often hailed as a marker for the proliferation for drugs and a culture of ‘free sex’, the use of mind-altering substances during sex have a long history.

Chemsex involves the intake of psychoactive drugs to enhance sex, increase desire, and reduce inhibitions during parties.

Cynthia Chircop says the lack of research on the chemsex scene and its popularity in the queer community requires further investigation as part of a worldwide phenomenon.

Drugs commonly used in chemsex include GHB, or liquid ecstasy, mepehdrone, the drug also known Meow Meow, and methampetamines, as well as MDMA, Ketamine, and Amyl Nitrate (poppers), cocaine, alchol and Viagra.

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