POPULATION-TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO: Containing the Viagra Frenzy

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Wesley Gibbings

PORT OF SPAIN, May 26 1998 (IPS) - Extensive local and international media coverage of the effects of the new sex drug, Viagra, has ignited widespread interest here among male members of a population well- known for traditional concoctions offering extended sexual encounters and long, prolific sex lives.

Officials here are having a hard time monitoring a virtual frenzy brought on by the illegal entry of the sex drug and the Minister of Health Dr Hamza Rafeeq, himself a surgeon, has had to intervene personally with the warning that abuse of the drug has already cost some men their lives in the United States.

Though Viagra has received US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval, the local Food and Drug Division of the Ministry of Health is yet to certify the drug for use here.

Last week, customs officials conducted successful raids on a number of pharmacies here and seized hundreds of Viagra pills being sold “under the counter” for as much as 20 dollars for one.

But, despite the threat of a 4,000-dollar court fine, sales have been reported as “brisk” throughout the country.

President of the country’s Pharmacy Board, Norma Inniss, does not deny that some of her Board’s members are selling the drug, but warns that “any drug that has just been released needs to be properly monitored.”

“It should not be freely used and people who are buying and using it are doing so at their own risk,” she said. “People are really taking a chance with Viagra.”

Rafeeq is as much disturbed and says the drug will have to undergo the usual scrutiny afforded all new medications entering the country.

The Pharmacy Board has also issued an advisory warning of the use of the drug in tandem with other medication saying illegal users will have “very little recourse … because they bought the pill on the black market.”

The frenzy is also serving to raise a number of other issues. One has to do with why Trinidadian and Tobagonian men find it necessary to use such a drug.

Reproductive health consultant, Dr Everold Hosein, speculates that diabetes, smoking and alcohol abuse are among the causative factors behind a growing problem of impotence among men here.

“The enormous public enthusiasm with which Viagra has been greeted reflects how critical a firm erection is to a man’s self-worth,” Hosein says in a newspaper column.

“But it also speaks to how well we have kept hidden the problem of male impotence,” he says.

His estimate is that one of every two men over the age of 40 suffers from “erectile dysfunction” at some time or the other.

“In about 80 percent of the cases, the causes are physical, having to do with some form of illness, usually of a cardio-vascular nature,” he says.

Like other medical officials here, Hosein is warning that while Viagra works, there are a few worrisome side-effects to look out for.

He cites temporary blurred vision, fainting due to a drop in blood pressure and severe blinding headaches.

One other backlash of the Viagra frenzy, has been a stepping up of counter-campaigns by processors of indigenous products such as the potentially dangerous bois bande tree bark.

One natural medicine processor has even put out a bois bande pill. The infamous bark is known for its speedy effectiveness, but is equally notorious for its ability to bring about a condition know as priapism — an extremely painful long-lasting erection.

In many cases, surgery has become necessary. Hosein says such surgery has often had “long-term damaging consequences.”

“The decrease in the use of bois bande is perhaps one favourable side-effect of the availability of Viagra,” he says.

Visiting urologist, Dr P Daninchukunnath Shridar, however suggests that too much of a fuss is being made about erection problems among men.

“(An) erection problem is a minor thing,” he told one local newspaper. “If you do not have sex you will not die, but if you have prostate cancer you will die sooner.”

Be that as it may, male virility is a much prized attribute here. A long-standing cholera alert has not diminished demand for raw oysters served at roadside stands throughout the country.

The juice derived from another mollusk, the pacro, also fetches premium prices as an additive in soups, stews and other concoctions.

The ginseng root is also used commercially in a beer-based beverage manufactured here and sold throughout the Caribbean by one of the region’s largest beer manufacturers.

The prevailing view is that any battle fought against the use of performance-enhancing sex drugs and brews will be a losing one.

“The Caribbean male’s fixation on penis size and open penis firmness sustains the common but miserable perception of sexual intercourse as RSB (Ram-Slam-Bang),” Hosein says.

“For those looking for an exhilarating sexual experience, a bit of conversation with your partner about what pleases each other will make a world of difference,” he says.

For the moment though, it appears that many men here are hoping they can skip the chat and find a solution in the wonder drug that is taking the world by storm.