There is a very distinct sub-sect of gays that is heavily involved with drugs and partying, and this is often the image that people think of when they think of gay males. I was at a club the other night where I was offered ecstasy for the first time in a long time, and that got me thinking about this topic. Do you think its true that more gays than straights do drugs (not including marijuana) and do you think that it is tied to our sexuality? I'm interested to hear your thoughts and experiences with this.

Menzo

Just sounds like the Club scene, Like there's a thing with Candi, that is like these reflective beads. straight and gay are part of that scene.

I don't think were more into drugs, with drinking gays might do that more when there's a bad situation with families, don't think it necessary true.

Menzo, I think there a difference between the party lifestyle and doing drugs to numb the pain. Life is not easy for gay people, but I don't think we're that much more likely to use drugs much more heavily. Straight people often have problems in their own lives and turn to drugs for that reason. Most people have some kind of addiction or another. Some use drugs and alcohol. Some have co-dependency issues. There are some who will squander the life savings at a casino. I don't think gay people suffer from addiction more than straight people.

My observation agrees with Drewbie's comment.
I think that the drug thing is part of the 'club scene' and it doesn't seem to make any different whether is a gay club or a straight club.
(Actually, over here gay clubs are often so popular with str8 couples that sometimes it's hard to tell the difference!)


Kit

This is a really fascinating subject and I intend to post my thoughts about it!

However, right now I'm about to go out for a bit so I can't.


Nevertheless, given the topic, subject matter, and potential controversy, I actually think that this is more appropriate for the Soap Box. As such I'm going to shift it over there


Great topic though, and I'm definitely going to give it some thought and post about it!


Take care all and have a great day
Kevin

Before I was outed at the age of 13, I was literally a boy scout. I didn't drink and drugs weren't on the map.

A few months afterwards, and an unbelievable amount of crap later, I was smoking pot on a daily basis.

Go figure.

Using drugs is an very old habit which has nothing to do with straight or gay !
I had the "chance" to live the sixtees (the sextees !) with the rush on LSD drugs. Today its the same with extasy. Using drugs belongs to the habit to partying, like alcool and sex. maybe gays party more the straights ? thats the only difference !
BTW, Kevin, about your next posts, are you talking by own experiences or just theorically ?
IMO, only people who have practice should have something to say about the "drugs" subject .
Old Bob ( who has !)

I used to smoke and drink and do what not...never thought that I did it because I am bisexual.

I am glad that I got out of the mess, though.

BeaStKid

I do happen to have my own experience with drugs and not just weed either. I was wild between the ages of 18 and 20. While I am not proud of what I did, I have grown up. Also, I don't think it had anything at all to do with my sexuality. There was a lot going on at the time, but I was completely hiding my sexuality from myself to the point where it was not even an issue.

This is my second attempt at an entry for this; so anyway:

In the late Seventies I was working for a company that had very liberal hiring practices and there were probably more than the average amount of gays in my work group. We were all early to late twenties, but what I found interesting about the gays in the amount of drug use going on.

Every Monday morning there was this discussion going on in back in their corner of the room about who was where doing what drug and doing what else with you know who, and you should’ve been there because so-and-so came with that new kid, etc., etc., etc. None of the straight guys had similar stories, for them it was mostly my family did this, me and my girlfriend did that, and all the other boring aspects of heterosexual life.

One day out of curiosity, I asked Jerry, who was probably the nicest guy I’ve ever met, what was with all the drugs and shit. His answer was, what else were they to do? You got together with friends and had fun. It was just that their little group was into drugs. He also told me about some engineers on a higher floor who were backpackers and lived “clean” lives. He said they were probably just as happy as he was, but he couldn’t see himself walking in the woods with a bunch of guys knowing there wasn’t going to be much of anything at the end of the trail except for a little weed.

Did pot several times during parties and between my roommates. It took me a while to get me walking straight again.

Other than, I didn't do any other drugs and I have no desire to do so if it's illegal.

Though pot is technically illegal, but you won't get arrested for carrying a small amount. Montreal police tolerates that...they either tell you to throw it away or in some cases, give you a ticket.

And this is not because I am gay. Pot smoking among Montreal youth is not unheard of and there are a lot of them that tried some. However, tobacco smoking is often what a gay man would do. I found one statistics that gay people are more likely to be smokers.

And I *do* smoke. ¬¬



I do not encourage or discourage you to try them based on what I just wrote here.

Jack's experiences are pretty close to mine. In high school I experimented with alot of different drugs (one of my closest friends was a dealer until his parents moved from Montreal out to the country) and drank heavily. Drinking was the norme in my high school so I can't say that it was because I was struggling with my sexuality.

I started to drink alot less frequently than my friends in university (although alot of that has to do with the fact that most of them had never had a drink until they turned 19).

In my office there is one other gay guy & neither of us use & only drink socially. This is in contrast to my straight do-workers, many of whom drink heavily & smoke pot on a regular basis. The only ones who are more adventuresome are the ones who are in to the club scene.

Steve

Apart from alcohol, I've never used drugs. My only exposure to them have all been with straight guys (and girls).

My first exposure was on my first vacation by myself. I had been working for a year, and treated myself to a two week cruise around the South Pacific. I was sharing a cabin with three other guys, and one of them had brought onboard a small supply of cannabis. He and a few others smoked in the cabin a few times (one of the guys who joined him was a policeman on vacation).

The second time was when I was in my thirties and I was on a Contiki (18-35) tour around Europe. Amsterdam was one of the places we visited In the discussions preceding that destination, I was told that if I wanted to try marijuana, I should do so before I had any alcohol. I had been tempted to try it, to see what it was like, but when the opportunity arose, I had already had a couple of drinks, so I turned it down. The people who (when sober) had given me the initial advice had then tried to tell me that their advice was wrong, but I still have a good memory and good self-control, even after drinking.

I have to say, that that experience turned me off the idea of trying marijuana. One of the girls was so spaced out that I literally had to direct her every step of the way from where we were to where we were meeting the bus.

The last time was in London, where I was staying overnight with one of the people I had met in conjunction with that Contiki tour. I had a discussion with him and some of his friends about drugs, because the plan was to attend a Rave that night. Some of them were going to take some Ecstasy on the way there, and they were telling me about how they needed to make sure they stayed hydrated. As it turned out, I never made it to that Rave party because the person I was staying with had worn footwear that the bouncers didn't like. Since some of his friends were there that he hadn't seen for ages, we swapped shoes and I headed back to his place, while he went in. It would have been nice to have experienced, but I was probably a little old for it anyway.

That's my experiences with drugs. None of them were with gay guys (at least as far as I know).

I have an experience that I hope some people can learn from...

I'm sad to say that I was introduced to the club scene with the mantra of 'Alcohl and drugs make it even more exciting.' And I did try a few club drugs and I was always drinking either before hand (when I was under 21) and when I turned 21I was seen with a glass or bottle in my hand the enitre night.

Nevertheless, I have to say that it was the stupidest time of my life. I never enjoyed the club because I was always stuck on my self, and the alcohol always killed my stomach. Over the past few months I stoped going to the clubs and bars, and started concentraing on school and on my health. It turned out that I have Generalised Anxiety Disorder and Depression (nice combo huh?) and that when I would go out I would use the drugs and alcohol as a crutch to get through the night.

It never hit me that I was using them to hid my own fears until my doctor told me that. To this day, I've stoped all drug use (save for the medicines that I need), I quit smoking 2 days ago, and if I do go out to the bar with a friend or celebrate something, I limit myself to a beer or two. I have to say that ever since I started this change, I've never felt better. I mean I've had more fun at the bar with friends and little to no alcohol in my system then I did when I was high and drunk.

Personally speaking, I've seen the way the drug/alcohol scene can hinder someone, and to me, it's a waste of time and money to persue it.

I don't think gay men are more likely to do drugs because they're gay, I think it's because of the consequences of being gay. Just that general mistreatment combined with a dash of malaise and a pinch of what-the-hell-do-I-realistically-want-out-of-life. It makes for a dissatisfied existence, which the rollercoaster of modernity, aka drugs, remedies temporarily.

Soooo.... that said, it's just that gay men are more likely to do drugs because they're dissatisfied with life. It's not because we like penis.

My experience with drugs runs the gamut... never tried crack, heroin, ecstacy, or LSD. The last two I will probably try at some point in my life because I'm curious and those both sound crazy fun. The first one I don't even have the urge to experiment with. For whatever reason, it's just totally unalluring. I couldn't do heroin intravenously because of my crazy hardcore needle phobia; I hate when they draw blood and that's taking something OUT of a vein, I freak when they try to put something in one.

Everything else, you name it, I've tried it. There's only been a couple I've REALLY liked. It's more like they were all good jokes or stories, y'know? Every once in a while, you remember them, pull them back out for use, and then store them away for later. I think I'd get pretty bored with a drug if I did it every day, same as if I watched the same movie every day.

Personally I don't see why there's such a huge stigma on drug use. It's just another thing to do. I also think part of the reason drug use is such a problem is the stigma. People can't make educated, sound decisions because drugs are illegal. People know nothing about dosage, effects, complications, counterindications, etc. Drugs are like going to the movies, IMHO. You risk crashing on the way to the movies, but you know you wanna see the movie. If you drive safe, there's not much risk, so you go for it. It's fun, and it's somewhat safe fun, so long as you're careful.

But now I'm letting my drug advocate side get way too apparent... so I'll hush now.