Search Result

The variables

If you use drugs, you’ll probably say that you know your limits and can handle them. Some people can... maybe you can... but whether you know what you’re doing or not, you often increase the risk of HIV/ STI transmission, accidents and other injuries. If you are feeling ill, tired, worried or depressed, are on your own or have something important to do in the near future (like go to work) their effects may not be what you want or expect. Whilst they may make you feel better in the short term they may also make you feel worse. The effects of any drug can depend on a number of factors:

• The drug itself
• How much you take
• Where you do it
• Who you do it with
• What you think the drug will do
• What you’ve mixed your drugs with
• How you’re feeling at the time
• What you’ve eaten that day
• Any other drugs you’ve taken (prescription or not)

Borrowing from tomorrow

Much as we would like to think otherwise, recreational drug use, party drugs or chemsex don’t create energy, they allow us to borrow it from tomorrow’s supply. And then, when tomorrow comes, it’s payback time. The key is to minimise the impact of the ‘weekend cocktail’ on the week.

Avoid doing any drugs during the week, particularly if you’re working. A weekend without much sleep, few meals, hours of endless dancing and drugs won’t be good for the immune system. Hardly surprising that, come Monday morning, we’re feeling a bit trashed/ completely fucked/ disco damaged (delete as applicable).

After the highs of Friday night/ Monday morning, there’s nothing like a heavy dose of reality and the misery this entails, to bring on the midweek blues. It’s therefore key that if and when we take drugs on the weekend we do what we can to reduce their harms and ensure the impact doesn’t carry over.