• Thomas E. Kilduff, In Newsweekly

[10 May 2006]

THE BUSTING of a drug lab in Dorchester's picturesque Savin Hill puts gay men and their drugs of choice once again in the spotlight. Michael J. Scanlon, 57, was arrested during the early hours of Wednesday, 26 April, on five drug charges including possessing drugs near a school. It's another high-profile example of how crystal methamphetamine not only has the wherewithal to destroy the life of a user and a dealer, but also impact one's society as a whole.

"What's so unusual about this case," says Sophie Godley, Deputy Director of Programs at AIDS Action Committee, "is that it all happened in a community that is very active, where such things did not go unnoticed."

Indeed, whether it is decided if Scanlon will be charged with making crystal meth into higher-grade "ice" or just selling packets of his West Coast shipments, residents of Savin Hill Avenue were noticing a suspiciously high number of visitors to their street in the four months preceding the arrest. An anonymous neighbour of Scanlon told In Newsweekly, "the subject was under investigation and it has been going on for four months. He had visitors all night, Jaguars, beautiful cars with New York plates, they would be 10 minutes in and out."

Out neighbour Kevin Docherty, 50, has lived on Savin Hill for 17 years with his partner. "We are still pretty shocked," he said, "We would see Michael walk his dog every day. He was single. His partner died years ago of AIDS." Docherty said that a lot of his neighbours are gay or lesbian and that it's really a peaceful neighborhood, but in terms of crystal abuse in the larger GLBT community, it comes as no surprise. Docherty says he "started noticing crystal for the first time three or four years ago."

Heidi Moesinger conceded that Scanlon was "nice, although he had a big scary dog." She acknowledged that his name came up during the neighbourhood crime watch meetings and only recently found out that meth is explosive.

While Godley acknowledges that everyone in the Boston area has been touched by substance abuse, either with friends of family members, the making of meth usually falls in one of two categories. "Meth labs," she said, "tend to be located in extremely poor housing stocks. In rural communities you'll find them in trailer homes with far-away neighbours, and in coastal areas they are usually in depressed neighbourhoods." Godley says there is a huge risk of explosion, but the burn

victims are usually people who live directly on the premises, children of manufacturers, roommates or the manufacturers themselves.

The Scanlon residence "meets the criteria to be deemed a methamphetamine laboratory," according to a 29 April statement by the Mass. State Police. The criteria was decided by the DEA Clandestine Drug Lab Unit, said Lieutenant Anderson of the Mass. State Police Public Affairs Unit. Boston Inspectional Services now has authority as to whether the house will remain standing.

While none of the neighbours spoke of any crime rippling beyond the alleged long-term drug transactions, meth can lead to other criminal behaviors. "Methamphetamine is a powerfully addictive stimulant associated with aggression, violence, psychotic behavior," says A National Institute of Drug Abuse pamphlet entitled "NIDA Community Drug Alert Bulletin - Methamphetamine." If tried and convicted, Scanlon could face up to 22 years in jail, not counting for any charges of distributing drugs in a school zone.

Another recent gay-related drug bust was more of an accidental discovery. On 13 November 2005, on 368 Congress Street in nearby South Boston, MIT graduate, Kevin McCormack, died of a heart attack while having sex. An ecstasy lab and storage unit was later found in his apartment.

And last week's Boston Sunday Globe reported that another gay Bostonian, Dale Bernard, is going to jail for similar reasons as Scanlon. Bernard pleaded guilty to six counts of distributing meth shipped from the West Coast. He was given a seven year prison sentence and five years of probation, after a lengthy DEA investigation.

"The problem with crystal," says Godley, "is that because it is so potent, people can get hooked even after one hit."

"Users may become addicted quickly," says a National Institute of Drug Abuse Information fact sheet about crystal meth, "and use it with increasing frequency and in increasing doses."

"Crystal meth is really different," says Jonathan Scott, president of Victory Programs. While Scott agrees that alcohol is still the number one offender in the GBLT community, he is finding men, and women, who become solely entwined in meth's grip. "We are seeing gay men lose partners, homes and jobs with an incredible acceleration. It takes only a couple of years for them to develop a late stage addiction. It has been particularly pernicious and insidious, especially with people who have never had a history of addiction or crisis."

Godley acknowledges that crystal use can affect a broad economic swatch. Like alcoholism and cocaine use it has a particular stranglehold on the gay male community in New England. "This drug at this time mixed with HIV is deadly," she says, "It can dramatically rob people of what they have."

Scott gives full credit to Boston Public Health Commission Director, John Auerbach, who, three years ago, spearheaded area efforts to combat the rise of crystal meth. "John convened a large meeting. It was a grassroots movement involving AIDS Action Committee, Fenway Community Health and Victory Programs in a co-ordinated effort to take crystal meth abuse from every angle: residential, outreach and prevention."

Victory Programs, the residential component of the ad-hoc task force, which has 18 live-in sites for those recovering from substance abuse, has always been GLBT welcoming. One recovery house is an eight-month residential treatment with 24 men in the South End where many recovering addicts are gay and/or HIV+. Scott says that clients can be referred to the Victory Programs; either with the help of their therapists or a cold call themselves.

In addition to residential treatment programs, there are three Crystal Meth Anonymous (CMA) meetings based on 12-step principles that meet in Boston. "There is a lot of intervention from distraught lovers," Scott says. "The thing with crystal is that withdrawal can last for many, many months, with incredible depression, paranoia, and suicidal thoughts.

"Often," he adds, "recovery takes a while." •

• By A. J. Mistretta, Dallas Voice

[16 May 2006]

CRYSTAL. Speed. Crank. Tina. Chalk. Tweak. Glass. Ice - nearly as many names as the devil and just as manipulative. Crystal methamphetamine is nothing new to the GLBT community. But experts say it is making inroads in major US cities more rapidly than any other drug.

And Dallas is no exception.

Sgt. Al Sutton, officer in charge of the meth lab unit in the Dallas Police Department Narcotics Division, said local crystal meth use has climbed significantly over the last two years. He said what was once an almost exclusively Caucasian drug is now spreading into minority populations, just as its grip on the gay community tightens.

"This is, or it soon will be, our next major drug epidemic," he said. Users describe a crystal meth high as an altered state of reality - a place where energy is abundant, sex is incredible and self-image is next to perfect.

Underneath the veil of deception, addicts face everything from paranoia to stroke and even death. Many medical professionals believe it's the primary culprit behind a rising HIV infection rate, which has many in the GLBT community very concerned.

Dr. Dhiren Patel, a private practice physician in Oak Lawn who has treated patients at Parkland Hospital, said from his perspective meth use has climbed faster in Dallas than any other drug in terms of the number of addicts. He estimates speed users currently account for as much as 25% of all addicts who come through local emergency rooms, compared with just a handful five years ago.

How rapidly users become addicted varies, but all too often those who begin taking meth as a weight loss aid or energy boost get hooked without even knowing it, Patel said. Hard numbers on the rate of addiction among gay and non-gay populations are difficult to come by. Yet it's clear that the drug's effects have made it an instrument of choice among gay men.

Meth offers an escape from stress and fatigue, providing the user not just with a sustained high but unprecedented energy. The drug costs $25 to $30 for a quarter gram in Dallas, according to information supplied by the Drug Enforcement Agency. That is enough to maintain some users for several days, making it relatively cheap compared with other street drugs, and easily accessible.

Add to that meth's capacity to alleviate feelings prominent among gays - such as depression or overwhelming self-

consciousness - and finish with its aphrodisiac properties that make users hypersexual, able to engage in marathon sessions of often rough sex, and you have what many call the ultimate gay drug.

"The circuit party scene and the bath house scene have become avenues to introduce meth on a grand scale," said Randy Martin, director of the Arlington-based Dallas/Fort Worth chapter of the Pride Institute, an addiction recovery organisation. "Being that those two environments are set up for long hours of partying and long hours of sexual activity, meth has become a tool to first enable someone to participate at that level physically; secondly, anything that stands in the way of a person's participation such as low self-esteem or depression, meth takes care of," Martin said. Arguably the biggest crisis the drug presents is its power to reduce or eliminate users' sexual inhibitions, making them less likely to engage in safe sex and, in turn, more susceptible to HIV and other STD infections.

The numbers are clear. Gay men who use speed are three times more likely to test positive for HIV than non-users due in large part to a greater incidence of unprotected anal sex, according to a study conducted in San Francisco and published in the 2 Sept. 2005 issue of the journal AIDS. Last year, 624 new HIV infection cases were reported to Dallas County health officials, up 32% since 2000.

The faces of meth users can be difficult to look at: sunken eyes, discolored and mangled teeth, brittle hair and fingernails, and skin sores. But many who use over long periods of time and take on these haggard forms say they don't see anything wrong with their physical appearance; the drug takes care of that too.

How quickly individuals become addicted to speed varies. Some report getting hooked after only one use while others insist they can take or leave the drug even after months or years of occasional use. Many continue to think it's possible to control their use. A September 2005 Advocate poll shows that nearly 20% of gay men believe crystal meth can be used responsibly as an occasional recreational drug.

"Meth is the new HIV," said Eric Shellhorn,

a registered nurse in the psychiatric department at UT Southwestern Medical Centre who has treated a number of meth patients. "It's that big a problem because of what it allows people to do under its influence." He added that the problem will only worsen without action.

"It's imperative that the gay community, as it has historically done with other situations, address this issue outright and out loud." • 

• Revised December 6

AS THE COUNTRY with possibly the most liberal attitude towards drugs in the world - where you can smoke pot in regulated cafes and marajuana is legally used for medicinal purposes - you might expect crystal meth to have taken off in a big way in Holland by now.

On the contrary. In 2003, The Health Association in the Netherlands funded a major survey to determine the general drug habits of its citizens, and to establish the underlying reasons why they use. The results make for enlightening reading.

It revealed that, by far, the majority of Dutch citizens who consume drugs on a regular basis do so mainly at weekends, and for enhancement purposes as opposed to escaping reality, and that only a small minority suffer with addiction problems. Among the hundreds of people questioned about their drug habits, the general finding established that drugs are primarily used on a controlled basis and once a week at most, accompanying social and recreational activities like clubbing and dancing.

The researchers attribute this finding to a general feeling of freedom, contentment and peace of mind among the Dutch in general, who live in a liberal (i.e. open, non-competitive and tolerant) society that is largely free of oppression or government and media-channeled fear-mongering.

Furthermore, the easy availability and cheapness of drugs in Holland (Amsterdam being a major world centre for ecstasy production and trade) is no indicator of consumption, with people tending to moderate their usage even though a pill costs around the price of a beer.

Most respondents were disparaging or dismissive about hard drugs like heroin or crack cocaine, with few being aware of anyone they knew who use. Similarly, to date, the Amsterdam gay community has emerged relatively unscathed from the arrival of crystal meth into Europe. Despite the drug's limited availability within the local scene, it has not been widely embraced, and reports of meth-related casualties are few and far between. •