Will your brain survive your party life? | EXBERLINER MAG
“It’s pretty horrible. People twitch and moan and speak in possessed tongues. I don’t judge anyone for taking anything – it’s not my business, but I stopped taking it years ago so I wouldn’t accidentally end up with a bad mix.” Jonathan, on the other hand, has no intention of stopping his drug use. He is careful to take breaks regularly and does not feel that his life has changed so much since he started. The same goes for Simon, who gave us an interview a few hours after leaving the Berghain: “I’m not saying there is no problem at all with drug use, but my friends and I are pretty well informed, and we have never experienced any major health issues. I only take drugs while partying; I don’t let it have too much of an influence on my job.” Gaia has quit party life but still likes to get high. “It helps you relax and take a break from the crazy world around you. It also helps you concentrate. Drugs are great! You just need to know yourself and your limits.” They all agree that awareness is key. Following Betzler’s “party drugs” study, the Senate promised to invest a substantial sum of €300.000 in drug education and prevention over the next two years. In the meantime, a quick tip for the informed party-goer: never mix alcohol and GHB.
GHB: The new old drug taking over Berlin | DEUTSCHE WELLE
While we’re out, Christian gets a text message asking what is an appropriate gift to bring to a wake. The deceased overdosed on G. How many end up dead is not clear, but most people here seem to know at least one person whose life has been claimed by the drug.
It’s especially popular at LGBT-friendly parties like the one we’re attending. Christian and his friend Alex, a US expat, also point out that they prefer day parties with exuberant drug-takers to long nights full of drunken revelers who might become aggressive or belligerent.
„If we lose our clubs, we lose our safe spaces,“ says Christian.
Die Droge, die einen ewig tanzen lässt: Wie Liquid Ecstasy ein Leben zerstörte
In einem Berliner Club nimmt Erik zum ersten Mal Liquid Ecstasy. Der Stoff bestimmt fortan sein Leben – bringt ihn um Schlaf, Job und ins Krankenhaus.
It melts plastic and can kill – so why is club drug GHB on the rise?
Steven, 29, stopped taking GHB a few years ago. “At first it seemed a nice alternative to alcohol,” he says. “I was going out a lot at the time and finding it difficult to keep up with my friends’ drinking – my hangovers would last for days. So I switched to G. And it was good until it wasn’t. After a few months of this weekend habit, I found I was craving it more and more.” He was amazed by how quickly he got hooked. “It went from something casual to a proper craving. I’d wake up on a Wednesday thinking, damn, two more days until I can do G again. And then I started to get anxious. I knew then that I had to stop. I distanced myself from those friends for a while – but I know that now, three years on, some of them do it every day. I’m just so glad it never came to that for me.”
GHB in der Clubszene
Und Hans Cousto, Mitbegründer von Eve & Rave Berlin, stellt dazu fest: »Seit etwa zehn Jahren beobachten wir, daß der Mischkonsum von GHB/GBL und Alkohol der häufigste hauptursächliche Grund ist, daß Personen von Parties mit einem Krankenwagen in ein Krankenhaus transportiert werden müssen, weil eine intensivmedizinische Betreuung notwendig ist.« Deshalb warnen sowohl Eve & Rave als auch der »Autonome Drogeninfostand« an Parties mit dem folgenden Slogan: »Alk + GHB = Tatütata«. So kurz der Spruch ist, so schnell und gut wird er von den meisten Partybesucher verstanden.