New research shines light on the devastating effect G has on users (Picture Getty Images/iStockphoto)

The rising use of a ‘nightmare’ chemsex drug which leaves users feeling like zombies has led to an alarming increase in rapes and deaths among its predominantly male user base, an eight month investigation has found.

The use of the drug GHB, known as G, among gay or bisexual men had reached such proportions many have called the problem an ‘epidemic’ as the harmful consequences of addiction, violence, sexual violence, overdose, death, and suicide become clearer.

The study carried out by Buzzfeed and Dispatches is part of a documentary to be aired this Sunday called Dispatches:Sex, Drugs and Murder.



One interviewee told Buzzfeed: ‘I know of somebody who was dead on the sofa at a sex party.


‘The party went on for more than a day and nobody bothered to check on him. He’d been dead for two days after a G overdose … People say it’s like being drunk. It’s not. It’s like being dead, but still walking.’

Another told researchers: ‘It’s like a roulette wheel of death, we need to get the message out how dangerous this stuff is.’

Two-thirds cited ‘better sex’ as reason for taking drug but many ended up being assaulted (Picture: iStockphoto)

The primary reason given for taking the drug was ‘better sex’.

Researchers, however, found nearly two-thirds (62.5 per cent) of the 5,000 respondents, of which 2,700 were gay or bisexual men, had suffered ‘serious problems’ ranging from loss of consciousness and addiction to hospitalisation or sexual assault.

More than a quarter of the G users who took part in the study said they knew someone who had died from the drug. The number of reported deaths in the survey was 1,910 – whether there were overlaps with multiple reports of the same fatality could not be determined.

The investigation forms part of a study to be published by the University of Cambridge and included more than 133 requests under the Freedom of Information Act.

A further 144 face-to-face interviews were also carried out but the results bore the same disturbing trends allowing investigators to confidently declare G-related sexual violence was so widespread almost every person who had taken part knew someone who had either been raped or sexually assaulted while on the drug.

G epidemic 28 per cent of respondents said they had been sexually assaulted (touched without consent, awoken with someone inside them, or raped while conscious) 82 per cent said they knew someone who had been a sexual violence victim A third of those assaulted were under 25 Saunas were the most common assault setting 37 per cent of assaults were in view of other people 47 per cent of people knew or suspected they had been given G without their knowledge 18 per cent reported being given a deliberate overdose. Several attacked men reported contracting STIs including HIV Source: Buzzfeed

According to the NHS there is a very fine margin with G, the nickname given to both GBH and GBL, between getting high and overdose – with only a single millilitre pushing the body to ‘go under’ and become unconscious and unresponsive.

The ease in which people fall into overdose is so common, the study found, that it has become normalised and even seen as ‘a rite of passage’.

The effect of this has been that more than a quarter of respondents admitted to being assaulted themselves with young men reporting to being drugged with G, raped and the abuse filmed and broadcast over the dark web.

Treating the problem is made worse, researchers said, as the addictive substance can also be fatal during the withdrawal stage, yet there is only one NHS clinic in the UK that specifically caters for G detox to prevent fatal seizures.



Researchers suggested the true scale of the drug’s use has been unreported due to a combination of toxicology reports not testing for it, only four hospitals in England and Wales currently do, and users’ reluctance to report themselves.

If the 700 annual G victims reported by the four testing hospitals, Blackpool, Portsmouth, King’s College Hospital and Guy’s and St. Thomas’ were representative of the UK there were be 17,000 annual admissions.