Beware of Ozempic and unexpected chemsex interactions
Stomach disturbance isn’t the only way Ozempic could affect queer sex. It also has a profound impact on chemsex – referring to the use of illicit drugs to heighten sexual experiences. Jatinder Hayre, a medical doctor and health and social inequality researcher for NHS England, says chemsex already has its own health threats and is something the queer community is more likely to engage in.
Chemsex is associated – but not limited to – drugs like mephedrone, GHB, GBL, methamphetamine, cocaine and marijuana, and Hayre says the use of these drugs for sex is a complex and nuanced issue which requires “sensitive discussion to deconstruct and address”.
Each of these drugs come with their own host of effects (and side effects) but when we add Ozempic into the mix, the impact of those drugs becomes complicated. This is because Ozempic gets to work via the gut while we are eating, but also targets the brain. Interestingly, the drug has a different impact in each of those areas, and that changes the way that drugs affect us.
Hayre tells GAY TIMES that Semaglutide is part of a family of drugs called “CLP-1 agonists”, wherein they act on the brain’s chemical centres to reduce hunger and cravings. However, it does this by “acting along the gastrointestinal tract to increase insulin sensitivity, slow the GI tract and subsequent passage of food.”
This is how the drug reduces the fat absorbed from consumed food, and helps remove fatty tissue in the body. Research is still in its early days, but Hayre says “there’s a possibility semaglutide could reduce the stimulatory and psychological effects of drugs used in chemsex, similar to the way it dampens cues for food cravings.”
This means Ozempic could make it harder for you to feel high – which experts say could have a positive effect on addiction treatment much further down the line when more evidence is available – but it defeats the entire point of chemsex.
As for the impact of mixing these drugs on the body specifically, Hayre says there’s a “scarcity of evidence”. With no extensive population studies, there’s no knowledge at all whatsoever of the potential harms. “There are some side effects of Ozempic including pancreatitis (inflammation of the pancreas) and palpitations, which overlap with some chemsex drugs, particularly cocaine, though it [occurs differently],” Hayre explains. However, whether or not this crossover is significant is unknown.
He adds that there is a “wealth of information we don’t yet understand about this intersection” and that, in itself, is concerning. “The medical advice is to never mix semaglutide with illicit substances, and to always seek medical guidance when introducing another medication alongside Ozempic,” Hayre says.
Ozempic and alcohol: a problematic cocktail
Additionally, Ozempic has a significant impact on alcohol tolerance. Perera explains that this is all down to calories. Ozempic reduces your appetite and fat intake which automatically means you’re consuming less calories on the drug. So when you drink alcohol, there isn’t enough inside you to cushion the alcohol’s blow. “It’s just like when you have a night out on an empty stomach and you get drunk very quickly,” he says. He adds that most alcohol itself is high in calories too, and the sudden influx after depriving yourself of them can dizzy Ozempic users.
This is something 32-year-old Angie who works in a gay bar in Manchester, hears at work all the time. “It’s become a running joke in the Manchester queer scene that all the Ozempic baddies have no tolerance whatsoever,” she tells GAY TIMES. If we see someone absolutely bladdered who needs our help, we will be like ‘ooo, Ozempic’.”
Of course, this means if you’re mixing alcohol and drugs, you’re going to experience very different effects from each: alcohol taking over and illegal drugs potentially barely hitting. That doesn’t exactly sound like a good time. Entering sex under this kind of state of confusion is also a recipe for disaster. With all kinds of sex – chemsex included – safe sex needs to be practised which not only includes regular sexual health screenings and/or condoms but potentially contraception and PrEP discussions.
So, regardless of what news you might hear about Ozempic’s safety levels, remember that the drug has not been manufactured or marketed with LGBTQIA+ people in mind and it’s simply too new and research too scarce to make any confident chemsex or partying calls.
With so little of the drug’s ramifications on queer people specifically being reported, its possible users could head into chemsex scenarios without this knowledge. Not knowing their drugs aren’t hitting as hard because of Ozempic could result in users increasing their doses, and with it their chances of harm.
Is Ozempic the new queer status symbol?
The expense of Ozempic – which retails at around £250 per month – also opens users up to other drug-related risks. Perera shares concerns that Ozempic’s pricey label has taken it from a mere medication to a status symbol.
Just recently, television personality Kelly Osbourne – who has recently made headlines for losing weight on Ozempic – was asked about the drug during an interview. She boldly claimed those who criticise it are “just jealous” because they “probably can’t afford it.”
Perera says positioning Ozempic as akin to a fancy car or designer watch can set a dangerous precedent. “A lot of gay people who can’t afford Ozempic but want that status symbol will use drugs like amphetamines and speed to lose weight instead,” he says.
“Most of my friends are not on Ozempic, but are on Ozempic’s uglier cousins.”
With social media offering more exposure to Ozempic, so many people in the queer community being on it and speaking to their friends about it, and the return of 2000s-style intense diet culture, Perera says there’s a huge pressure to access Ozempic – or something like it – at whatever risk.
He likens it to the Kate Moss era, when she famously said “nothing tastes as good as skinny feels” to the women’s fashion website WWD in 2009. There was a distinct yearning for skinniness, with people desperate to get celebrity-level skinny but couldn’t afford a lot of the stars’ expensive methods (liposuction or other cosmetic surgeries, for example) and would take drugs like speed instead, with even teenage girls partaking.
Dangerous Ozempic substitutes are taking grip
22-year-old Ciaran, an actor based in London, tells GAY TIMES that he takes speed to lose weight. “Ozempic is expensive as hell and speed basically does the same thing. My friend who is also an actor is on some unlicensed version of [semaglutide] that he gets from a mate. Most of my friends are not on Ozempic, but are on Ozempic’s uglier cousins.”
Perera says it’s not remotely safe to use speed or an unregulated or unlicensed version of Ozempic (which is likely to be an amphetamine anyway) to try to lose weight. He explains that people falsely view speed as a version of Ozempic, but “Ozempic is clinically produced, has gone through multiple phases of testing and is proven to be safe when properly prescribed to an appropriate user” – the same can’t be said for street drugs. Side effects of taking speed include, but aren’t limited to, increased blood pressure and nausea and long-term effects like changes to the brain, cardiovascular damage, malnutrition, anxiety and paranoia.
It’s possible that Ozempic could present as a gateway to less safe methods, and a renewed interest in diet fads among the queer community, such as taking diet pills, but Perera says it goes much deeper than that. Insidious diet culture intertwined with drug abuse and social pressures has long had a grasp on the queer community, and Ozempic is merely one version of that reality.
Malachi adds that, although he is taking it himself, he is “horrified” by the normalisation of Ozempic in the queer community. “It really does feel like a takeover, but it’s kind of an open secret. Everyone is talking about Ozempic, but not really discussing it. It’s a word we throw around, and obviously a drug lots of people are doing, but conversations about the effects and why so many of us are obsessed with it are simply not happening.”
But with pharmaceutical companies and even some health professionals not always considering LGBTQ+ people and their specific lifestyles in drug manufacturing, marketing and prescribing, having these conversations with each other is more important than ever.