Drug Use at the Baths Part 1
(Continued from page 1)
Now we get to the serious drugs being consumed at the baths: Crystal meth, GHB, Ecstasy, Special K, Speed and Crack Cocaine While marijuana and poppers are consumed openly at the baths, these hard-core drugs are consumed much more discreetly. And they are taken in combination with each other, which is even worse. But to get back to Viagra for a minute, you may ask yourself why Viagra is so popular in the club scene? After all it is associated with older men, and these young twinks certainly do not need the help. Apparently long-term use of E (ecstasy) kills a person's sex drive. So to get in the mood, Viagra is taken along with the E and the rest of the club drugs. E (ecstasy) is the most popular of all of the club drugs out there. E can be taken in combination with other drugs like G (GHB) and K (Special K). How do the drug users keep everything straight in terms of what is safe to mix and what is not? When taking club drugs you can mix a vowel (E) with the consonants (G & K), but you NEVER mix the consonants (G & K) together!
It is generally younger gay men (Twinkies with 5% body fat) who are into this scene. Ever wonder why so many young gay men look anorexic? It is because many of them are taking E. This is a drug that speeds up a person's metabolism, as it is an amphetamine. As well, if they are taking GHB, that apparently stimulates the release of growth hormone, acting as an anabolic steroid. So they are able to have a primo body without ever working out. But exercise is the furthest thing on many twinks minds. At the top of many their agenda are circuit parties and club drugs.
There are a variety of reasons as to why drug use is so rampant. Peer pressure and the need to feel acceptance from the gay community are an obvious reason. Especially in young gay circles where drug use is fashionable among the social fabric of being young, out and gay. By consuming these drugs a high is achieved that is so great, you literally feel that you can dance all night long. But there are other men who use drugs for the opposite reasons. They are still in the closet, and do not feel like they fit in to the "gay community". On the one hand they carry this huge sense of isolation with them. And on the other hand, they are very horny for another guy. By getting high, these men can temporarily feel good about becoming intimate with another man without the anxiety, self-questioning, or guilt. It is just a temporary escape from the pain and misery. For the rest of the drug users, it gets them in contact with other users. And a small community of users is born, most of who are homeless.
The heavy drug use at the baths usually happens very late at night. The groups in this scene are the Twinkies (younger gay men) who party hard and into the night. They begin the night taking a hit of some GHB or Special K. That seems to be the general rule; you cannot start the evening off without a buzz. Then they club hop and visit the bars. They meet up with other friends and continue to kick back more booze and drugs, and dance the night away. By the early morning hours the bars close, and many of these gay men wind up crashing at the baths. But they are not at the baths to sleep it off. It is a post-party, albeit a risky, explicitly sexual post-party. To recreate that club feeling, many baths will turn the music on full blast. Hearing that loud, gyrating dance music seems to get everyone in the mood to continue the party. By this point, these men are so high on drugs (in different combinations) and alcohol, that high-risk sex is not so unusual. Crystal meth and Cocaine will do that to you. By taking these drugs, you feel such a sexual sense of euphoria, that you cannot imagine having sex without taking a hit. Being that high seems to liberate a lot of gay men from the heavy weight of safe sex. At that moment they can re-create the freewheeling days of the 60s and 70s. Having sex anytime with anyone, without making a mental checklist of what is safe and what is not.
Even with all of this freewheeling sex going on, you may occasionally see men taking a hit of GHB or K out in the open. (GHB makes you HORNY as hell!) They are feeling high and do not care what people think. By the early morning hours, you will often see guys bouncing off the walls high on GHB or passed out on one of the lounge chairs. Or you can hear scores of men having group sex, locked away in their rooms. The bathhouse staff really cannot monitor what is going on. They are to busy checking people in and cleaning rooms, as the demand for rooms and lockers gets bigger and bigger. After 2AM is the busiest and best moneymaking time for the baths. When the bars and clubs close the party has to continue somewhere else. You may ask why a bathhouse will let these intoxicated men in. Well, the desk attendant generally refuses entry to a person that is clearly intoxicated. So to get around that rule, these Twinkies take a different approach. They purchase a room, before going out to party. That way they cannot be refused entry when they return, as they have already per-paid. Plus they need not to worry about getting a room, if the bathhouse becomes booked solid later in the evening. By pre-paying they have secured their spot.
The 2 AM crowd also consists of men who struck out at the bars. These men have been hanging out at the bars all night long looking to pick someone up. If they fail to take someone home by closing time, they just trot down to the baths to get off with someone else. So the crowd at 3 or 4 AM consists of the Twinkies who club and take drugs and the middle-aged bar type man who needs to get laid. No wonder why there is always a line up that stretches around the corner at 2AM every morning.
After all of the partying and non-stop sex, these younger gay men finally crash in bed (hopefully in the room they purchased) and sleep it off. They wake up in a stupor at around noon. It is not unusual to wake up and find someone in your bed, that you do not recognize. It is even worse if there are four or five guys in your bed, and you have no clue how they got in there. Even though these Twinkies are tired, sore and strung out, they are ready to do it all over again. Now most of these hard-core party guys know their limits. They have jobs, pay rent, and know they have some responsibility. By Monday morning they are so wiped out, that they need the rest of the week to recuperate. Why does it take a week to recover from a weekend of partying? Long-term use of E affects the serotonin levels in the brain. Serotonin is a critical neuro-chemical that regulates mood, emotion, learning, memory, sleep, and pain. E injures serotonin neurons causing a variety of behavioral and cognitive consequences as well as impairing memory. In short, on Monday and Tuesday after a weekend of partying and kicking back drugs, you are still in somewhat of a daze. The drugs have fried the serotonins in your brain. Although these can re-grow, they do not grow back normally and might not grow back in the right location. So many of these young gay men restrict this type of partying to the weekends. But for some, it has gotten out of hand. This is the dark side to the baths and it is the next essay.
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GAY BATHHOUSE STORIES
