Madrid has become the capital of the extremely dangerous cocktail of viagra (and similar), drugs, alcohol... and youth. The famous blue pill, which has recently become popular for the treatment of sexual impotence in adult men (usually over 55 years of age), is now, increasingly, one of the ingredients of parties of sexual debauchery. Although its use is not only associated with the homosexual or bisexual collective, it is true that, in practices such as 'chemsex' (orgies with prohibited substances, normally, which can last several days), this medication is one of the protagonists. In Spain, unlike other countries, such as the United Kingdom, it can only be dispensed in pharmacies and with a medical prescription. And this is where another criminal factor that the Police and the Civil Guard are investigating comes in: the black market on the internet, both on web pages for buying and selling anything, on the 'dark web' or, directly, in dating applications .
Seizures, often by chance, are growing. They know it well in the Municipal Police of Madrid. Just a few days ago, in a routine traffic control, the agents peston several people in a car with 50 boxes of Sildenafil (one of the presentations of the drug, named for its active ingredient and its generic), in Ciudad Lineal. It happened at 16.30:XNUMX p.m., and several suitcases with this clandestine 'stash' were found in the vehicle. Of course, they lacked proof of import (they came from the Andean country), European labeling and control of the Spanish Agency for Medicines and Health Products. It goes without saying that they did not have a medical prescription nor was the cold chain complied with. The destination of so many blister packs was the sale at nightlife.
In Spain, the owner of a bar on Calle Rafael del Riego, in Arganzuela, was surprised when she was dispensing, as if it were drinks, Viagra and derivatives behind the bar. She is a 43-year-old nationalized Dominican, who had no criminal record. He was arrested for a crime against public health. The surprised after the National Police dirty the place has a man who quickly broke a package. In the search, hashish and cocaine were found. And inside the pub, in a black bag, were a hundred pills of sex-enhancing drugs like Mambo 36, LaPela, and Sildenafil. The first of them has already been the object of other police operations, such as one carried out in another pub in Hortaleza. As the number indicates, it is capable of causing erections of up to 36 hours.
Police seize Kamagra, a variant of Viagra NATIONAL POLICE
5.000 pills per hour
This supply-demand pairing has a very illustrative case: the dismantled 'laboratory' in Móstoles where 5.000 Viagra pills were manufactured at the time. An accurate blow to one of the largest production points for this type of drugs, also without any type of sanitary control, in all of Europe. Also not long ago a load was intercepted at the Barajas airport, coming from Colombia, with thousands of pills against erectile dysfunction.
Iván Zaro is a social worker at Imagina Más, one of the backs that worked for the Ministry of Health on the largest study on 'chemsex' to date. He explained to ABC that, although there are no concrete statistics, his experience tells him that this use of Viagra in young people "is not something generalized." But he stated that "on the internet and in pharmacies in the center of Madrid they dispense it without a prescription." Its use occurs, logically, to have sex, "but in its different manifestations": "There will be those who take it with their partner, there will be those who use it in 'chemsex' sessions, there will be those who do it without the consumption of other substances... recalcitrant Ivan Zaro.
Regarding the profile of the users, he considers that it is "very diverse" and that, logically, it is not that of those who "go to the doctor to ask for the prescription": "They are not, however, men over 55 years of age." It happens that "the risks are high." Because they join "those who the drug already plant by itself, but aggravated by the absence of any medical advice and prior tests." The main complications can be "cardiac and endanger the individual's life, especially if, in addition to the drug, they have consumed substances such as 'popper' or cocaine."
The Municipal Police confiscates more boxes of other brands MUNICIPAL POLICE
Given the authenticity of what is consumed in these surroundings, Zaro emphasizes that "everything that is purchased over the Internet with related drugs carries a serious risk, since it cannot authenticate that the components and the product are what is really wait ”: “All drugs for erectile dysfunction are marketed in pharmacies through medical prescriptions, those are the only insurance with which to tackle erectile dysfunction problems without exposing our health”.
More than 60% of 'chemsex' is concentrated in Madrid. The average age of consumption is 32,2 years, according to the 2021-2022 report on drugs from Salud Madrid, a body dependent on the City Council of the capital. The study carried out for the ministry found that in these cases 'polydrug use is common, being able to add to the drugs mentioned, among others: ketamine, methylenedioxymethamphetamine (ecstasy or MDMA), amyl nitrite or isobutyl nitrite ('popper'), ' speed'; in addition to alcohol or phosphodiesterase 5 inhibitors (sildenafil or Viagra, vardenafil, tadalafil). Among all of them, Viagra ranked third (70,4%), only behind 'popper' (a vasodilator), which reaches 85%, and very close to GHB (70,8). Then there are alcohol (69,1%) and cocaine (63,2%).
Already in more conventional sexual practices, the increase in the use of stimulators is being appreciated in young men of 30 years of age, including adolescent girls, compared to what happened before (thirties and older). There are several factors behind this: from the generalization of the consumption of pornography (the actors in this type of film, in fact, take these drugs to stabilize 'in shape' during the several hours that a recording lasts), which cause a distortion of true sexuality; The fear of not measuring up in bed or the effects produced by the consumption of alcohol and other drugs in impotence.
internet ads
This recreational use, to call it that, is reflected in the offer that exists both on online pharmacy websites (usually foreign but that sell in Spain) and in advertisements. A little search on the internet is enough to find some of these sex 'camels': “I deliver by hand. Viagra 100 mg. Blister of 10 pills, 40 euros. Cialis 20 mg. Blister of 10 pills, at 50 euros. Only for WhatsApp”.
And this is the response of one of the clients: “They are bad. Unfortunately I have tried them and I have had abdominal pain. Another very common place to buy them is in applications, especially those focused on the LGTBI public, such as Grindr, where all kinds of drugs and illegal substances are sold.
The General Council of Pharmaceutical Colleges promotes the #SaludsinBulos campaign, with the help of young 'influencers'. According to an analysis carried out on YouTube, the videos with the most views on aspirin proclaim supposed benefits against acne of applying it to the skin in the form of a plaster, without any evidence, with a total of 73 million views in the first 50 videos alone: “Some of them also attribute properties against erectile dysfunction to this analgesic drug. In addition, on this social network, only the first 30 videos that refer to a supposed natural Viagra, created with food and sometimes mixed with drugs, add up to 27 million views”.
