SHORT CIRCUIT.

A spate of drug overdoses on the dance circuit has many wondering if the party scene has gone haywire

His hands clasped around the waist of an unconscious friend, a man drags the collapsed reveler off the dance floor. Other dancers pause for a moment, give a fleeting look of concern, and moments later are back in the beat. The grim ritual is so commonplace these days that no one really thinks twice about it. The scene was New York City's Pier Dance, the culmination of gay pride weekend last June, but in truth it could have taken place at almost any gay men's dance club, in any major city, on almost any holiday weekend of the year. In fact, many men were pulled from the dance floor that evening on the pier. Four of them left the party in ambulances for treatment of drug overdoses.

Other scenes from the dance floor this past summer included: one man's dying and two of his friends' going into convulsions after overdosing on the drug gamma hydroxy butyrate, also referred to as GHB, at a bar on New York's Fire Island the weekend of the Morning Party, the annual Gay Men's Health Crisis fund-raiser; and the Atlanta police's shutting down one night of the Hotlanta dance weekend after three men were rushed to the hospital for GHB-related emergencies. These events have brought police, emergency medical personnel, and the media into the world of the gay men's dance party circuit, which previously had operated out of public view.

They also have dramatized a lingering debate among gay leaders about the role of illegal drugs in gay men's lives, with some calling for a police crackdown on the circuit and others arguing that such problems should be addressed quietly within the gay community. At the same time, these stories bring to mind deeper questions: Are gay men more likely to abuse drugs than straight men? Why do so many intelligent and informed people choose to use drags that seem certain to have some harmful side effects? What special needs are these drags filling in their lives? Or, simply put, how did having a good time come to this?

According to a number of doctors and counselors interviewed for this story, drug abuse is a phenomenon of a highly visible segment of the urban gay male community, but it seems to be far less prevalent outside inner-city enclaves. "Drugs sometimes are a rite of passage for many young gay men who come to the city and want to be a part of the scene," says Dave Schwing, director of Project Connect, the drug counseling program at New York City's Lesbian and Gay Community Services Center, "People use drugs because they work, obviously. They make people feel good. But it's easy to get caught up in that and not see what the downsides are."

Experts say there is no way to quantify how rates of drug use among gays compare with those among straights since people who self-identify as gay tend to be, a bolder lot than the general population. But anecdotal evidence suggests that substance abuse is quite widespread among young gay men living in urban ghettos. Howard Grossman, a physician and member of GMHC's board of directors, says that about 75% of his gay male patients in Manhattan have experimented with illegal substances, including ecstasy, ketamine (special K), cocaine, crystal meth, trod GHB. Since gay meccas such as New York's Chelsea, Chicago's Lakeview, and West Hollywood, Calif., are often vacation destinations for gays from across the country, trends in these high-profile neighborhoods are likely to disproportionately influence gay men throughout the country.

More troubling still is that these drugs are being used in a near-total information vacuum because there is little scientific data available to determine their side effects. Preliminary evidence, though, leaves scientists with little doubt that use of drugs such as ecstasy, special K, and crystal meth pose some serious health risks. In the case of GHB, the short-term risks are so perilous that users might never have to worry about its long-term consequences. The drug, once sold as an over-the-counter alternative to steroids and ordered off the market by the Food and Drug Administration in 1990 because of its potentially lethal side effects, has gained rapid popularity in clubs because it provides cheap, electric highs. But GHB is an extremely treacherous drug. It can cause violent reactions in users when mixed with alcohol and other legal and illegal drugs.

Such volatility is inherent to GHB. The drug alone, in sufficient quantity, is enough to put a user in a coma. According to Grossman, small changes in the concentration of the drug can transform its effects from a euphoric high to drowsiness to even coma and death. There is no way for users to tell what dosage they are taking since the drug dealers who manufacture it presumably lack even a rudimentary scientific education and have been known to brew batches in their bathtubs. As Grossman puts it flatly, "There is no safe way to do GHB."

Certainly GHB use is not limited to gay men--the drug is widely taken at straight rave parties and has been implicated in a number of college campus date-rape cases. Eric Rofes, author of the book Dry Bones Breathe: Gay Men Creating Post-AIDS Identities and Cultures, says drug use is no more endemic among the circuit-boy crowd than it is among the male population as a whole. "Intelligent and informed people have always used [illegal] substances," says Rofes, who is a visiting assistant professor at Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Me. "The trajectory of drug use among gay men has followed the trajectory of drug use among young people in America in general. It was strong in the '60s and '70s, got quieter in the '80s--except in inner-city poor communities--then it started to boom in the '90s."

That boom has since led to many police busts, but the drug war is just now bearing down on the circuit. At the behest of many gay activists, GMHC's Morning Party is now monitored by federal park rangers, who this year searched guests' bulging pockets and socks and even brought their own minilaborary to test the powders and liquids they confiscated. Despite an intense effort by GMHC to discourage drug use at the event, 21 people were arrested--less than 0.5% of the 4,500 guests--the same number as the previous year. That suggests that there is a certain intractable group of people who will continue to use drugs no matter the consequences to themselves or costs to venerable organizations such as GMHC. But one also wonders: What would such a law enforcement effort yield at a "straight" event that attracted a similar "fast" crowd, such as Lollapalooza? It seems reasonable to conclude that police might find at least 0.5% of the guests using some form of illegal drugs.

Rofes thinks that a better point of comparison might be another all-male event and points to work done by sociologists that shows that drug abuse is more prevalent in male-only environments. "When adult men come together in any kind of configuration--heterosexual, homosexual, and everything in between--substances are prevalent," he says. "This goes for college fraternities as well as the corner bar and certainly applies to young gay men's culture." The thinking among many club regulars boils down to what they hold to be a simple truth: that men, in general, like to have intense physical experiences--running the continuum from sports to sex to drags.

But for gay males, the siren call of the clubs may be speaking to other equally deep-seated needs. Since few gays were able to express their desire for other men before adulthood, nightclubs offer the high school social life they never had. Over the years clubs have evolved as a special space in gay men's consciousness--essentially as shrines to gay male sexuality. But the old saw that gay men are getting drugged up and dancing to deal with internalized homophobia seems naive given how forthrightly out most of these men are. It also denies the active choice they make to use drugs.

A better explanation might be that the club world offers as a replacement for the stereotype of the timid, effeminate gay male--a new mythology embodied by the disco fantasy man. The sight of tattooed, muscle-bound shiftless men embracing on the dance floor sends a message that gay men are powerful and at ease with their sexuality. "In the club setting gay men are idealized," says Schwing. "People are friendly, particularly after they get high. There's a connectedness that people feel. But as one guy told me, `You only have to blink your eyes, and it's not so beautiful anymore.'"

However, even such an ephemeral sense of connection for gay men, many of whom have felt like outcasts from male social groups while growing up, powerfully answers old insecurities. "For gay men, who have been socialized to be at odds with men and who may feel bullied by men and who for the first time in their lives are in this all-male environment, there is an added incentive to use drugs," Rofes says. "We have a lot of longing for that experience, and we also have a lot of fear of it."

Drug abuse among gay men, of course, is as old as the gay community itself. Most people associate drug abuse with the 1960s hippie movement. "Just about everybody did recreational drugs, it seemed," says Los Angeles photographer Tom Bianchi, who spent his weekends on Fire Island in the 1970s. "Every year there was something new: MDA, MDM, MDMA, purple haze. There was a lot of stuff that was just called acid or mescaline. There were sort of vague ideas of what produced what effect." Bianchi recalls that one Fire Island DJ died of an overdose on one of the first Morning Party weekends in the early 1980s.

These days GMHC's Grossman and others are disseminating what little information there is about the consequences of this generation's drugs. Employing the concept of "harm reduction," in which educators seek to inform the public how to minimize risk if they engage in potentially dangerous activities, Grossman and another physician, Ron Winchel, distributed a fact sheet about ecstasy to houses on Fire Island this summer.

Research shows that extended use of ecstasy could lead to permanent depletion of serotonin, a neurotransmitter that regulates mood, possibly causing long-term depression, which would be untreatable because vital nerve endings have been destroyed by the drug. But Grossman says the warning fell on unreceptive ears: "I sat there with my friends, and they tried to argue with me about it. They want to be a little dangerous. They've been good boys their whole lives. They don't want to hear that it might cause permanent problems."

And while much has been made of the connection between drug use and unsafe sex, Grossman says that drugs may be a convenient explanation for men who secretly yearn to have high risk sex. "People who have made the decision that they are never going to have unprotected sex in their life--it doesn't matter how high they are--they aren't going to have unprotected sex," he says. "People who haven't made that decision--who want to have unprotected sex--it gives them an excuse."

This flight of reason that often accompanies drug use resonates with many on the circuit. Bill, an entrepreneur who frequents many parties, agrees that common sense often goes out the window Saturday night. "In each batch of ecstasy, nobody knows what's really in there," he says. "We're kind of like guinea pigs. If someone says that gives a good high, we'll do it. We tend to give up our natural inclination to fear the unknown."

Since many within the club culture are themselves engaging in illegal activity with their own drug use and don't want to alienate new buddies, friends often don't exercise peer pressure on people who go overboard with drugs. "Gay men are very reluctant to establish a shaming culture, if you will, having just escaped from one," says Scott, a New York City professional who attends about six circuit parties a year. "They have good reason to doubt that there's anything good about a culture in which someone points a finger at you and says, `You should be ashamed.' It's hard for them to develop a culture in which they say, `Don't do that.' But sometimes you need the ability to do just that."

Few believe that such a change in mind-set is in the offing. Alan Brown, who publishes "Electric Dreams," an electronic circuit newsletter, doesn't think that high-risk drugs are going to be stripped from the scene anytime soon. Parties "may go underground again, where it started pre-AIDS, because local authorities might start coming in and because nonprofit boards won't want the liability concerns and public relations downside," he says. "But the need to party is fueled by needs deeper than the forces that would wish it away."

But Scott, who's witnessed his share of GHB-related casualties, hopes that people will wise up before it comes to that. "I won't soon forget watching those two people being worked on by medics," he says, referring to last summer's Fire Island incident. "GHB is going to be the crack of the gay world. It's something that has come along that's more powerful than anything that's come before it It's going to take a long time to create a social message to say to people, `Don't do this.' But it may be that before that message can be absorbed, this drug will utterly destroy the club world it dropped into."

RELATED ARTICLE: THE ABCs OF DRUGS

What do club drugs do and what are their potential dangers?

GHB

What is it? GHB, or gamma hydroxy butyrate, also is called liquid X and, in Great Britain, "grievous bodily harm." It is a clear liquid and is ingested orally.

What does it do? It is not clear how GHB--which may be a naturally occurring substance in the brain--works. It can make a person feel elated, calm, and/or more sexual. In higher doses, which are not much larger than the ones taken to simply get high, the drug can cause sleepiness or even a coma.

What are the dangers? Chief among them is this possibility of sedation or coma, even with a relatively small dose. This is especially likely when the drug is mixed with other sedatives, such as alcohol.

Ketamine

What is it? Most commonly known as special K, ketamine is an anesthetic used during surgery of children or animals. In recreational use, it is most often taken orally or snorted.

What does it do? Ketamine's main effect is to put users into what is called a K-hole, in which a person experiences loss of memory and body control and has a general feeling that mind and body are disconnected. Larger does can cause psychosis.

What are the dangers? The primary danger in taking ketamine stems from the loss of judgment users experience. The drug is very additive.

MDMA

What is it? MDMA, or methylenedioxymeth-amphetamine, is best known as ecstacy or X. Developed in Germany before World War I, it is most often consumed in tablets that cost about $25.

What does it do? Much the way Prozac works, MDMA acts on the brain's serotonin system to alter moods. It can cause elation and feelings of connection and empathy as well as restlessness and jitteriness. It is one of the few drugs in its class that can be abused without becoming addictive.

What are the dangers? Even one dose of MDMA can kill a substantial number of serotonin cells, which could lead to long-term depression. Users often feel lethargic, sore, and depressed.

Methamphetamine

What is it? Methamphetamine, or crystal meth, also is known as speed. It usually is snorted as a powder (if smoked, it is called ice or crank). It is especially popular on the West Coast and in some parts of the Southwest and Midwest, where it is illegally manufactured.

What does it do? Crystal's high, which can last eight hours or more causes stimulation, elation, and increased energy. At higher doses it can cause paranoia and delusion.

What are the dangers? Crystal is very addictive, hinders judgment, and can cause heart attacks and strokes.

Compiled by David M. McDowell, MD, medical director at the Substance Treatment and Research Service of Columbia University and the New York State Psychiatric Institute 

Meers is a staff writer-reporter for People magazine.