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The Grim Reaper: Club Drugs And HIV

Summary & Participants

Many people think that the HIV epidemic is over. But recently there has been a spike in the number of new infections. Experts say that certain club drugs that allow for wild uninhibited sex are to blame.

Medically Reviewed On: June 16, 2008

Webcast Transcript

ANNOUNCER: Thanks to advances in HIV treatments people in the US who have good access to healthcare are living longer healthier lives. But experts are now seeing a worrisome trend.

PERRY HALKITIS, PhD: Infection rates were stable during the 1990s, but, in the last few years, there's been a spike in new HIV transmissions across the population and especially among gay and bisexual men.

ANNOUNCER: Explaining this turnaround is not so simple.

PERRY HALKITIS, PhD: First of all, there's a fatigue around HIV that we're seeing in the gay population and in the general population. People feel that the HIV epidemic is over, they're more complacent about safer sex practices, they think there's a cure and, as a result, people are not being as safe or as responsible in their sexual behavior.

So number two, I think what's happening is that prevention efforts really haven't evolved and haven't become as sophisticated as people have become sophisticated around HIV. So "Use a condom every time" campaigns, which worked fine in the early 1980s and the mid-1980s are no longer effective.

What we're also seeing is this complex interaction that exists between sexual risk-taking and drug use. And in particular with a subset of drugs known as "club drugs."

ANNOUNCER: And if hearing the term "club drugs" conjures up images of a disco ball or a rave you'd be mistaken.

PERRY HALKITIS, PhD: Our research shows very clearly that people do them at home, they do it with their friends, they do it in the park, they do it wherever they need to do it.

ANNOUNCER: So what are the so called "club drugs?"

PERRY HALKITIS, PhD: You know, twenty years ago, we would have been talking about cocaine as the primary drug, but that doesn't seem to be the big problem. It is a problem, but not the biggest problem these days.

We're talking about methamphetamine, also known colloquially as "crystal." We're talking about MDMA, which is known commonly as "ecstasy." We're talking about ketamine and we're talking about Rohypnol and we're still talking about cocaine, to some extent. And we're talking about, more importantly, not just each of these drugs in isolation, but each of these drugs being used often in combination with each other, in combination with alcohol, in combination with prescription drugs such as Viagra.

ANNOUNCER: And that, say experts, is a menacing mixture.

PERRY HALKITIS, PhD: Perhaps the most worrisome is methamphetamine crystal. This is a psychostimulant, it's a form of speed; it's related to ecstasy. It's related to other amphetamines and it has been a huge problem.

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