The room is full of sweaty dancers, trying to stay on their feet after nearly 20 hours of nonstop dancing and partying. But they persist their money is going to charity, after all.

Sound familiar?

As many Northwestern students scramble to raise those last few dollars for Dance Marathon, a different kind of fund-raising dance will be happening in Chicago this weekend — but this one is X-rated.

It’s Fireball Weekend, which means that thousands of predominantly gay party-goers will dance their asses off at various hotspots around the city. The Aragon Ballroom, Museum of Science and Industry and a slew of nightclubs will turn Chicago into a gay mecca.

At $250 for a weekend pass, Fireball is quite the pricey endeavor.

But, rest assured, all of the proceeds go The Hearts Foundation — a volunteer-run, nonprofit Illinois corporation that has raised nearly $2.2 million for Chicago’s gay and lesbian and HIV/AIDS service organizations.

So attendees get to experience “a dazzling array of world-class talents and venues,” and local charities are presented with a big, fat check. The host cities for these events, known as circuit parties, find their hotels and restaurants filled to capacity. It’s a win-win situation for everyone, right?

Wrong.

The Center for Disease Control found out in 2002 what every circuit-boy knows: Parties are hotbeds for drug use and random, unprotected sex — the very type of behavior the charities are trying to discourage.

I volunteered for The Hearts Foundation for three years as a “venue roamer.” My job was to walk around the Aragon Ballroom and make sure nobody had overdosed or passed out in the middle of the dance floor.

Walking around I saw reminders posted on fluorescent paper. “Don’t mix G and alcohol” informed the crowd of what everyone learns in Rape Prevention 101. GHB, or gamma hydroxybutyrate, is commonly used as a date-rape drug. When combined with alcohol it can result in unconsciousness or death due to respiratory failure.

But the fun doesn’t stop with GHB. Ecstacy, Ketamine and crystal meth are hard to avoid during circuit party weekend. These drugs have a habit of lowering inhibitions. Combine that with a room full of attractive, horny men — if that’s your thing — and you’ll probably be regretting your actions come Monday.

A 2001 CDC survey of men who had attended circuit parties found that 95 percent of them took at least one illegal drug at a party. And 28 percent reported having sex without condoms on circuit-party weekends.

I don’t look down on anyone who goes on wild drug binges or acts like a whore. You’re free to live your life how you like. But creating an environment that fosters the spread of disease, all the while raising money for charities that prevent that same disease, seems counter-productive. Worthwhile organizations such as the Hearts Foundation deserve better.

Let’s just hope that DM is a little less wild.