The following is my favorite illustration of the effects – both euphoric and deadly – of gay sex drug use. It’s a fictional, hyper-real scene from the Hannibal Lecter series, and it goes something like this:
Mason Verger (a patient of Dr. Lecter’s, and the only one of his victims to survive) is a highly-sexed homosexual in relentless pursuit of A Bigger Rush. One night the good doc shows up while Verger is happily suspended and bound, ready for action.
Lecter makes Verger an offer he can’t refuse. “Would you like a popper?”
“Would I!” replies Verger, and inhales the amyl nitrite like the greedy pig that he is.
His euphoria is instant and intense. In fact, the poppers make Verger feel so good that he isn’t put-out in the least when Hannibal Lecter begins to carve his (Verger’s) skin with a shard of glass and feed the gooey bits to the dog. Somehow the extreme danger of it all sends his libido skyrocketing.
Needless to say, just like in real life, only once the high is gone does the regret set in.
That scene certainly isn’t believable, but poppers are the staple drug of the gay sex scene. They’re cheap, easy to get, and – I’d be a hypocrite not to add – they fuckin’ rock. They make everything, everywhere, feel good (Mason Verger did have fine taste in artificial euphorics, afterall). They give you an immediate rush to all of your body’s pleasure centres. And, best of all, the effects only last about three minutes. Nor do they (arguably) have the same skank-factor as meth, coke, or ketamine (also popular in some gay circles, and totally the subject of another post, on another day), but they do have one dangerous similarity: say bye-bye to your inhibitions. And the loss of inhibitions during sex with a guy you barely know is a no-no.
Guys’ online profiles will sometimes include the term “party’n’play” (or “pnp”). This usually means they like to use poppers during sex (most guys are not into the skankier drugs mentioned above). Nine times outta ten – ok, ok, let’s say eight times outta ten – ah, fuck it, let’s drop it to seven times outta ten – a guy who likes to “pnp” with poppers is using them strictly for a fun, safe, if-slightly-more-heightened play session.
But what about those extra three guys, that roll-of-the-dicey 30%? I worry that they have a habit of using the drug in order to lose their inhibitions. That scares the shit outta me. And if I’m just meeting a guy and discover that he’s into poppers, I can’t help but be distracted by my paranoia that he may not be a safe player. What else does he get up to? What other sex-drugs are in his drawer?
I’ve come to find it all a little unsettling. For me, an awesome (re: huge) cock is rush enough. Anything more is dog chow.
Be safe!
Dangerously fun.