FEATURE | When it comes to synthetic drugs, anyone can be a user and anyone can be a dealer.

Unlike the common perception of addicts portrayed in anti-drug campaigns, said PT Foundation activist Rifqi Hanafi, drugs like crystal methamphetamines can easily remain under the radar.

“I knew a friend who was a lecturer but after 6pm he was a drug dealer. He used to sell at home, but then he moved from hotel to hotel. It was a well-paying job,” he said.

PT Foundation is is an NGO which works to curb the spread of HIV/AIDS while supporting those affected by the virus - many of whom are drug users.

Rifqi (photo) said hotels are lucrative haunts for synthetic drug suppliers thanks to the thriving chemsex scene which gained footing in Malaysia in the early 1990s.

Chemsex - short for chemical sex - refers to sex under the influence of drugs, usually methamphetamines.

Rifqi said Aramine, a popular drug in the 1990s, was once used to boost confidence to pick up girls in clubs, he said, but today it is known as a “rape drug” used to take advantage of unsuspecting women.

The introduction of Ecstasy - a psychoactive drug which heightens sensations - paved the way for chemsex, with KL’s thumping gay clubs as prime spots for drugs to change hands.

As the Internet was still in its infancy in Malaysia at the time, the gay community relied on the club scene to find partners, making it fertile soil for the proliferation of chemsex.

“The groups came together, drugs started to spread around, and that’s when the chemsex phenomenon became quite common among the community,” he said.

“It happened to the heterosexual community as well. When you are taking drugs, everyone can be your friend, as you would develop a higher tolerance towards risks.”

Circuit parties

It was before the 3am lock down ruling was enforced on clubs that 'circuit parties' would see clubbers in action from about 11pm to 7am the next day, before heading to a 'morning club' where the party continued until about noon.

Stimulants like crystal methamphetamines - crystal meth for short - fuelled this round the clock dance parties in the early 2000s.

“We didn’t see the negative effects of chemsex till six or seven years later when HIV infection started to spread among gay men who are using crystal meth, or let’s say those doing chemsex.”

Rifqi said those addicted to crystal meth are mostly professionals but unlike heroin users, they remain undetected as they do not bear physical scars or seem physically impaired.

“But as the addiction gets worse, they can’t perform at work, they become paranoid and sometimes lose consciousness. Some lost their job eventually.”

Peer pressure remains the leading reason those who seek PT Foundation’s assistance cite for taking drugs.

Others say they started doing chemsex for fear of losing a partner, while others take it to feel intimacy which would otherwise take a long time to build.

Miak Siew, an openly gay pastor in Singapore, said many gay men struggled with being in a relationship, have few role models, and little support from family and friends.

Some of these gay men then give up on relationships, and gravitate towards the intimacy they can find through chemsex, he said.

The problem is, he said, crystal meth is even more addictive than cocaine or heroine, which boosts baseline dopamine by about three folds.

Users of crystal meth experience the dopamine surges of more than 10 times the baseline, he says.

“It’s getting worse here in Singapore,” said Miak.

Leow Yanga (photo), a registered social worker and executive director of Oochaga, says many still fear coming out about their drug problem, especially in image-conscious Singapore.

Oochaga is Singapore’s community-based professional counselling centre for their lesbian, gay, bisexual and transexual (LGBT) community and their families.

“We know that a popular option for those who can afford it is rehab in Thailand,” he said.

Many also travel to Kuala Lumpur to seek help from known physicians like Dr Ilias Adam Yee, who specialises in assisting individuals addicted to synthetic drugs.

“They don’t want to be on record, so the best way is get treatment in Malaysia, as their identity will be protected,” he said.

Breaking the cycle

While experts raise concern over higher transmission of HIV and rates of mental illness among those involved in chemsex circles, some have emerged unscathed.

Jane Kassim, 48, had her first taste of drugs and alcohol in her early teens but her decades-long drug dalliance started with her mother’s death when she was 26.

“I was so close to her to the point that I couldn’t bear to lose her, and drugs was my way to get rid of the pain,” she said.

A personal assistant at a law firm in Kuala Lumpur, Perak-born Jane supplemented her income through working as a guest relations officer in a karaoke lounge where drugs were easily accessible.

“We started with Ecstasy, then it moved to methamphetamines in the early millennium. That’s when my life plunged into an abyss.”

Besides singing and dancing, she also had sex with paying customers, sometimes with a group of them at the same time.

“I loved ice as it energises us, makes us wild, and the sex could last for a longer time to satisfy both sides,” she said, using the street slang for methamphetamines.

“There was no one forcing me to do that. It was just me who was keen to try, and I had customers who were into chem(sex) as well. You get free drugs, so why not?”

She was taking Ecstasy and heroin at the same time, as well as "chasing the dragon" when she was at work at the law firm.

"Chasing the dragon" is an urban term to describe smoking heroin or methemphatamines off of a piece of tin foil, where the user follows the smoke which looks like a dragon with their straw.

“I did that in washrooms during office hours, as it is odourless and no one could notice it,” she said.

Jane is lucky that she did not contract HIV despite her high-risk lifestyle, but she said that period of her life left a hollowness within her she found hard to patch up using drugs.

Users of crystal meth describe a prolonged depression immediately after the three-day euphoria. Some long-term users struggle with depression for extended periods of time, prompting them to seek respite from drugs and trapping them in a vicious cycle of addiction.

It was only when her father was diagnosed with cancer in 2007 that Jane decided to kick the habit. She moved back to Taiping to escape the scene and spend time with her family.

A transwoman, she now uses every opportunity she gets to advise other transgender people to stay away from drugs and chemsex.

“I knew some people plunged into deep depression and their lives were destroyed by the drugs.

“So I tell younger transgender people out there not to do chemsex.

“You can use that money to get branded cosmetics, so why go for something that could cost you your life? That’s how I encourage them,” she said.

Part I: How chemsex may be raising HIV spread in M’sia

Part II: The doc who helps white-collar meth addicts