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At a London conference hosted by the International Association of Providers of AIDS Care (IAPAC), the group’s president Jose Zuniga, described chemsex as a “challenge of proportions we cannot fully comprehend at this time.”

Chemsex is characterized by the use of drugs such as crystal meth, mephedrone and GHB, or gamma-hydroxybutyric acid, to enhance sexual arousal, performance and pleasure.

Many people I see say they think 'it's only a matter of time anyway, so I might as well have some fun'

A subset of chemsex is known as “slamsex,” where partygoers self-inject drugs rather than taking them as pills or via pipes.

The drugs “reduce inhibitions and increase feelings of horniness or lust,” Jaspal said, and contribute to “a perfect storm” in groups with high HIV rates for the virus to spread.

In a small study published in 2014 of people attending HIV clinics in England and Wales, 30% of HIV-positive men surveyed reported chemsex in the previous year, and 10% said they’d engaged in slamsex.

Ignacio Labayen de Inza, a chemsex specialist who works at several UK clinics and online as a counselor for men seeking help, says “things have got much worse” since then.

“It’s not just a UK thing,” he told Reuters during the IAPAC conference. “It’s in Amsterdam, Berlin, Munich, Rome, Kiev, Moscow, Helsinki – and in many of what people call ‘gay destinations’, like (Spain’s) Ibiza, Torremolinos, the Canary Islands.”

A Spain-based study last year found that of almost 750 HIV-positive men surveyed, 60% reported having unprotected anal sex and 62% had been diagnosed with an STI. Rates of infections and high-risk sexual behavior were higher among the 30% who reported having engaged in chemsex or slamsex.