Time to Stop the Party

Meth. GHB. Special K. Ecstasy. Party drugs like these are practically ubiquitous in the gay club scene. But in addition to fueling a night of dancing till dawn, they're also driving the HIV epidemic in the gay community, according to a new federal study. Young, HIV-positive gay men who binge-drink and abuse drugs are significantly more likely to transmit the virus to others through risky sex when drunk or high, say Centers for Disease Control and Prevention researchers who conducted the study. Their findings show that half of the men were designed as 'high-risk transmitters' because they reported regularly engaging in unprotected anal sex.