Five overdoses, three deaths. In Bordeaux, this sudden repetition, in less than a month, of deaths and injuries among “chemsex” enthusiasts, has brought back into the news this practice consisting of chaining, for several hours or days, taking drugs of synthesis and sexual relations in groups and between men.
The dark series began on March 12, 2024, when the lifeless bodies of two men aged 44 and 47, dead for several days, were discovered in their apartment. On March 15, a cleaning lady who came to take stock of a very disorderly studio rented for three days found a forty-year-old lying on the ground, inanimate but alive, in his underwear, with the toilet seat not far from his face. On March 16, a man felt unwell at home after an evening of chemsex with two friends who were able to call the emergency services. On time. On April 8, a 56-year-old man from Bordeaux did not wake up after having sex under chemicals.
“At this stage, no link has been established between these different cases”, insists the public prosecutor of Bordeaux, Frédérique Porterie. Nothing, apart from rumor, indicates that an adulterated product is circulating in Bordeaux. But to be certain and investigate the causes of death, or even attribute it to a possible supplier, the Bordeaux public prosecutor’s office referred these cases to the same investigative service of the territorial crime division.
“Let go without moral restraint”
“Each time, the presence of various substances and in particular 3-MMC and GBL [des substances psychoactives] confirmed the thesis of consumption of toxic products », reveals the magistrate. A synthetic drug with effects similar to amphetamines, 3-MMC is mainly consumed by snorting or injection. GBL is the component of solvents or chemical strippers, diverted from their industrial use. After ingestion, it is rapidly metabolized into gamma-hydroxybutyrate, namely GHB, classified as a narcotic. “The Rape Drug”recalls Frédérique Porterie.
“These product intakes aim to amplify sensations, performances, to let go without moral restraint”explains Jean-Michel Delile, psychiatrist from the Bordeaux area and president of the Fédération Addiction association, joined by The world in New York where a conference was to discuss chemsex.
“These are two types of product with high addictive potential with opposite and complementary effects”continues the former general director and still member of the board of directors of the Committee for Study and Information on Drugs and Addictions (CEID-addictions), in Bordeaux. “3-MMC will be a boost that gives confidence and allows you to last a whole weekend. GBL has a disinhibiting effect, useful for people who are sometimes not comfortable with their homosexuality. »
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