When the drug GHB became a big problem for London’s gay scene in the mid- Noughties, I was a couple years into my previous life as editor of scene magazine QX. Gay men were passing out in clubs after overdosing, and in one case seven ambulances were called to a single club. The scene was facing a major crisis, and club promoters were struggling to deal with the issue on their own.
The GHB issue needed a concerted effort if we were to tackle the problem, so I contacted the scene’s promoters, and some 30 people gathered in the basement of the Village bar, in Soho, to discuss the problem. It was astounding to see rival club owners, who would sooner see their competitors hit by a fast-reversing truck than collaborate, set their grievances aside for the benefit of the wider scene. Together, we devised a campaign to educate, inform and raise awareness of the drug among the clubbing community.