Why are Younger Men Turning to Sex Drugs?

The above link is from Good Morning, America.

You've seen them. Viagra (sildenafil/Pfizer), Levitra (vardenafil/Bayer/Glaxo/SmithKline), Cialis (tadalafil/Lilly). And by the time you read this, these three might not be the only three.

As their generic names suggest, these drugs work alike. They increase blood flow into the sponge-like collections of vessels in the male organ. The result, essentially, is a programmed erection--erection on demand, if you will. They were intended, or so their makers told us, to assist elderly married men with a problem that they might find embarrassing to talk about. (Except that Senator Robert K. Dole, R-KS, wouldn't stop talking about it, and it probably ended his political career.)

As a physician, I have had my doubts about these drugs from the beginning. Anything that messes with the circulatory system is also messing with the heart--and that can be deadly. In fact, I distinctly recall saying the following in a Guest Opinion in The Burlington County Times back in 1999:

You [the editors] would likely be the first to scream for the scalp of any pharmacist unlucky enough to have filled a prescription for sildenafil (Viagra) for a man who died of a heart attack in the arms of his illicit mistress that same evening.

Unfortunately, the BCT edited out this next line that I had submitted: "Or if you did not so scream, then his widow's attorney might." I spoke to an actual attorney about this very issue, and she agreed with me.

So the very spectacle of these drugs is bad enough--but you might be able to make a case for prescribing one of them, but only if you counsel husband and wife together on what to expect and what to watch out for. But now we hear of much younger men taking these drugs strictly for recreation.

The following quote is telling:

"Call it the 'Sex and The City' syndrome," said Dr. Abraham Morgantaler, an associate clinical professor of urology at Harvard Medical School. "I now, for the first time, see men coming into the office who say, 'Women out there are aggressive. They're telling me what they want, how they like it, and they're giving me instructions, and I feel like a technician.'"

Excuse me! What does an unmarried man need with such performance enhancers? If this is the attitude of women today, why bother playing this stupid game? What self-respecting man in his right mind would even want a relationship with a character out of that disgusting TV show? Have men lost their self-respect--and their minds?

Well, maybe they have. Come to think of it, the whole human race lost its mind when Adam and Eve ate the apple. Surely this can be no coincidence: that the word that Saints Peter, Paul, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John--not to mention Jesus Himself--repeatedly used to describe what a person must do to get right with God--that verb usually rendered I repent--actually means I am getting my mind right. The word is metanoeo, from the Greek meta after and noos the mind--literally, "I am changing my mind."

And that's exactly what I call on all you young men to do: change your minds, and get your minds right. You're not going to win at this game. Get hooked on these drugs, play this absurd expectations game, and you'll know no limit! Because sin has no limits.

That GMA segment featured two doctors, both female. One of them sounded a warning about purely physical consequences, largely unknown, that these men are letting themselves in for by taking a drug with which we have so little experience. But the other one--and this was a woman who treats other women--found nothing wrong with this! To this woman who calls herself a physician, I say this: Excuse me again, but isn't the first rule of a doctor never to do harm to anyone? I shouldn't have to remind you of your Physician's Oath! What's your angle? Are women coming to you and telling you that the guys aren't living up to their expectations? And is this the advice you give to the guys? I wouldn't send my wife to you for advice if you were the last doctor on this earth.

Frankly, it's worth remembering again this warning by John the Revelator: "They didn't get their minds right, either, about their murders, their drug abuses, their sex-capades, or their thefts." [Revelation 9:21]