Viagra, rave drugs a bad mix, health experts warn

Ecstasy drug curbs male libido, so some seek a Viagra boost

Publication title: Edmonton Journal

Pages: A9

Section: Canada

Publication date: May 22, 2000

Dateline: Calgary

ProQuest document ID: 252808005

Copyright: Copyright Southam Publications Inc. May 22, 2000

Abstract:

Rave drugs such as ecstasy impair male sexual function. It's known as the "hug drug," since it increases the desire to touch and be touched, even though it reduces the libido. But used in combination with Viagra, it can increase sexual desire.

Pfizer warns against using Viagra with ecstasy or with nitrate- based drugs such as poppers (amyl and butryl nitrate).

[Don Sancton] said Pfizer isn't sure what the effects of Viagra are in combination with ecstasy because the company doesn't conduct research on illicit drugs.

Full text:

Nightclub and rave cultures are mixing Viagra with illicit drugs despite warnings that users could be setting themselves up for heart attacks, some health experts say.

Pharmaceutical company Pfizer introduced Viagra, an erectile dysfunction drug, in Canada more than a year ago and sales have topped $1 billion.

But it's not just men with medical problems who are using the drug. Through online sales, Viagra is coming into favour at the all- night dance parties called raves.

"I've heard of the recreational use of it in Calgary by younger people," said Dr. Curtis Bell, a physician subcontracted by Pfizer to lecture on the drug's use in Alberta.

"Its attraction lies in the user being able to have more prolonged erections and hence have sex for a longer duration."

Det. Steve Walton, of the Calgary police drug squad, said he has seized quantities of the prescribed medication in other illegal drug busts.

"Calgary seems to copycat the Toronto culture and I expect there to be a surge of the drug here over the summer," he said.

Rave drugs such as ecstasy impair male sexual function. It's known as the "hug drug," since it increases the desire to touch and be touched, even though it reduces the libido. But used in combination with Viagra, it can increase sexual desire.

Pfizer warns against using Viagra with ecstasy or with nitrate- based drugs such as poppers (amyl and butryl nitrate).

"Viagra is not an aphrodisiac and has no effect on the libido," said Don Sancton, director of corporate affairs for Pfizer, Canada.

"It should only be used by people with erectile dysfunction and treated with all the respect given a prescription drug."

Sancton said Pfizer isn't sure what the effects of Viagra are in combination with ecstasy because the company doesn't conduct research on illicit drugs.

But Judith Aldridge, who with her colleagues at Manchester University in England has studied it, said Viagra in combination with these drugs may lead to dangerously low blood pressure levels.

Aldridge and two colleagues conducted a study with 2,000 participants on Viagra use in English clubs.

Three weeks after Viagra was released to the British public, they found three per cent of clubbers had admitted to using it.

"Our biggest concern was that people were using it in combination with poppers," she said.

"Since they both affect the circulatory system, this creates a big risk for heart attack and stroke."

Drugs at raves are under the spotlight in Toronto -- considered the rave capital of North America -- since the death of a teen who overdosed on ecstasy, an amphetamine-based drug.

An inquest is being held into the death of Allen Ho, a university student who collapsed last October at a rave in Toronto after taking ecstasy.

Thirteen young people, nine of them from the Toronto area, have died of ecstasy-related overdoses since January 1999.

Alex D., editor and publisher of Toronto-based Tribe magazine, considered a leading authority on raves, said Viagra is popular in the nightclub scene, although not as common as in England or the United States.

It's not difficult to buy Viagra. It can be bought online from an American or Mexican store with a credit card and delivered to your door the next day.

The only stipulation is that the buyer be 18 and fill out a "questionnaire" verifying the need for the drug.

Since the drugs arrive from outside Canada, authorities can do little to curb illegal importation.

Dr. Jack Barkin, chief urologist at Toronto's Humber River Regional Hospital, and a consultant for Pfizer, said there's no danger in young men consuming Viagra as long as they don't combine it with other nitrate-based drugs.