Adults-only content & difficult topics
This page discusses sexual offenses, abuse, and trauma.
The text is informative, not sensationalist.
If you feel unsafe or need to talk, please call 080 1200 (free helpline).
For professional audiences
Chemsex is Not Consent
Understanding trauma, intoxication, and consent in criminal proceedings. Substance use does not equal consent and does not reduce the perpetrator's responsibility.
Legal baseline
Core legal principles
Consent must be conscious, voluntary, and informed.
Intoxication can significantly reduce or eliminate the capacity to consent.
Exploitation of a vulnerable state is an aggravating circumstance.
Key point: The victim's lifestyle is not on trial.
Biology & memory
How substances affect judgment and memory
- Substances affect risk assessment and boundary perception in real time.
- Fragmented memory and "time gaps" (blackouts) are common.
- Emotional and body memory can exist without clear visual recall.
Legal relevance: Incomplete memory is not a credibility marker; it is a biological consequence of the state.
Procedural pitfalls
Common false assumptions
False assumption
"If the substance use was voluntary, the sexual activity was voluntary too."
Correction: Consent to substance use is not consent to a sexual act.
False assumption
"Participation equals consent."
Correction: Passivity or compliance can be trauma responses (fear, freeze, dissociation).
False assumption
"Returning to the perpetrator cancels the offense."
Correction: Trauma bonds and dependency do not equal consent.
Guidance
Assessing testimony in chemsex cases
- Separate the question of consent from the question of substance use.
- Account for trauma responses (dissociation, fragmented recall).
- Avoid moral judgment about lifestyle.
Avoid: Using emotional expression or perfect consistency as the sole indicators of truth.
Child protection
Specifics for minors
Children and adolescents cannot provide valid consent while intoxicated.
- Grooming often includes substance use.
- The state has an enhanced duty to protect vulnerable groups.
- Any exploitation of intoxication involving minors is especially aggravating.
Why this matters
Professional understanding of chemsex dynamics and trauma is essential to prevent secondary victimization and to ensure justice.