Slamming
Injecting drugs, usually crystal meth or mephedrone, before or during sex: the most extreme and risky form of chemsex.
Slamming is injecting drugs, usually crystal meth or mephedrone, into a vein before or during sex, to make the high and the sex harder, longer and less inhibited. It is the most extreme corner of chemsex: the same drugs, but straight into the bloodstream, with a faster, stronger rush and much bigger risks. A man who does it is a slammer, and the practice is also called slamsex.
It is not the same as smoking or snorting at a party, and most men who do chemsex never slam. On the apps it is talked about in code, which is part of what makes it hard for health services to reach.
Where it comes from
Slam is drug slang for injecting, and the gay sexual sense spread with the chemsex scene of the 2010s. A review of the medical literature describes slamming as an international phenomenon developing since 2011, found mostly among men who have sex with men, with methamphetamine and mephedrone the drugs most often injected. Surveys disagree wildly on how common it is, partly because nobody agrees on exactly what counts.
The health side
Slamming adds the risks of injecting to the risks of chemsex, and gay health services treat it with harm reduction, not lectures:
- Needles. Use a new needle and syringe every time, never share anything, not the spoon, not the water; needle exchanges give them free.
- Infections. Shared equipment spreads HIV and hepatitis C, and hepatitis C has spread among gay men through slamming as well as through sex.
- Overdose and the mind. Accidental overdose, psychosis, paranoia and dependence are all on the list, and injecting makes the hit harder and faster.
- Consent. Nobody should inject anyone who can't clearly agree, and nobody should be injected by a stranger.
PrEP cuts the risk of HIV from sex by about 99% but from injecting by a lower figure, at least 74%, and does nothing against hepatitis C. Regular testing for HIV, hepatitis C and other STIs is part of the deal.
If slamming has started to run your weekends, or your weeks, a sexual health clinic or a chemsex support service is the place to start: they have heard it all and won't judge.
Close relatives
- Chemsex: the wider scene of sex on drugs.
- PnP: the North American name for it.
- Poppers: the mild end of the spectrum, nothing to do with needles.
Related terms
Sources 3
- Schreck, Benoît, Caroline Victorri-Vigneau, Marylène Guerlais, Edouard Laforgue and Marie Grall-Bronnec. "Slam Practice: A Review of the Literature." European Addiction Research 27, no. 3 (2021): 161-178. https://doi.org/10.1159/000511897
- iCaSH, East of England Community Health and Care NHS Trust. "Chemsex." (accessed 19 October 2026). https://www.icash.nhs.uk/sex-and-relationships/chemsex/
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "Clinical Guidance for PrEP." HIV Nexus, CDC (accessed 19 October 2026). https://www.cdc.gov/hivnexus/hcp/prep/index.html