Needless to say, these reports have created considerable alarm about the possibility of a new gay subculture that may amplify the spread of HIV and hepatitis C, and anecdotally, the large majority of gay men attending support services for drug users in London now report injecting. There has been considerable publicity in the gay, scientific and general media recently about so-called ‘slamming’ or ‘slam parties’, defined as group sex parties where gay men take drugs such as methamphetamine or mephedrone, often by injection, in order to facilitate prolonged sexual activity.