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In the new trailer for an upcoming feature by Vice, the ChemSex epidemic is described as “the Perfect Storm”. The issues of gay man and their sex lives paired with the evolution of drugs and technology takes a disturbing and dark toll London’s gay community. Before London realised, they were in the midst of a tornado of mephedrone, G, Tina, slamming, barebacking, orgies, chill outs, HIV and death. Being in America and trying to explain to people how ferocious and unforgiving the gay scene is back in London is something that they can’t quite get the grasp of…

“Oh, yeah Crystal is big here too…” And fair enough, it’s a problem. But the majority of people still go to sleep the same night/early the next day. The majority of people have never seen a chill out like London’s most mundane. The clubs close at 2am. They haven’t even heard of mephedrone. Which just brings to a little bit more to light, just how fucked up things are in Britain. And it’s one of the things I relish being away from. Not because I’m better than it, but because it’s a vacuum that holds no prisoners.

In December Vice magazine unveil a docu-drama exposing the shadowy depths of how destructive this lifestyle can be, with one in four conversations on Grindr involving ‘chems’ and one in eight, involving slamming. The footage chats with real people about real issues; 56 Dean Street’s David Stuart who is an activist for healthier sex lives talks changing the face of the ‘after-party’ norm, while DJ/promoter Fat Tony weighs in on the issues too.

If you’ve never witnessed the kind of things they address in the film, it will certainly be something eye-opening, and for those of us that have, it may hit a bit too close to home. But regardless, hopefully this will be a step towards correcting something that should never really have developed to this level of severity on the first place.