Londoners in their thirties are increasingly being treated for the long-term side-effects of party drugs and “legal highs”.
About 50 people a month are seen by the Club Drug Clinic, with many suffering from years of recreational use of the “big four” — ketamine, mephedrone, GHB/GBL and methamphetamine, also known as crystal meth.
Experts say this challenges the stereo- type of pill-popping youths and paints a disturbing portrait of “people with jobs and responsibilities” unaware of the perils of regular weekend drug-taking.
Psychiatrist Dr Owen Bowden-Jones said: “When I opened the clinic I thought this is going to be for young people in their late teens, early twenties, probably having their first difficult experience with a substance. But the average age has been late twenties, early thirties.
“These are people who have used club drugs recreationally, often without a problem, for years. Slowly their problems have escalated to the point they have run into significant difficulty. The harms we are now seeing, you wouldn’t normally associate with club drugs.
“One of the most severe side-effects is ‘ketamine bladder’, where the drug causes ulceration, leading to extreme pain and the need to urinate every 10 to 15 minutes. Three patients had surgery to repair severe damage done. One problem is that ketamine is an anaesthetic. As people reduce their intake, the pain gets worse.”
Some clubbers who took mephedrone have developed psychotic symptoms akin to schizophrenia. Others became addicted to GBL, an industrial solvent. Users have been known to set alarm clocks to top-up doses at night. Side-effects include shaking and delirium.
Problems are exacerbated by use of the drugs alongside “legal highs” — normally untested research chemicals available on the internet. Some 70 types have been seen so far at the clinic.
About 800 people have been referred to the clinic since it opened two-and-a-half years ago, with 500 undergoing treatment. It operates from Chelsea and Westminster Hospital and Mortimer Market in Soho. Patients range in age from 16 to 62, and 60 per cent are older members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.
