ARE WE WINNING THE WAR ON METH?

Latest Report Offers Hope but Omits LGBT Voice

In the midst of all of our LGBT pride celebrations last week, two
reports were released on methamphetamine use in the United States that
had the mainstream media, the anti-meth activists and the drug policy
reform advocates all abuzz with the possibility that the meth crisis
in America may be in decline and perhaps even over.

New data from workplace drug screenings indicate meth use decreased by
45 percent from two years ago and the number of meth labs incidents
was down by 30 percent. The White House Office of National Drug
Control Policy (ONDCP) was attributing the nationwide supply and
demand reduction efforts as an "effective one-two punch against
methamphetamine."

In addition, a report issued by the Sentencing Project found that meth
use is declining among the nation's youth, is stabilizing among adults
and, in general, is a rare occurrence in most of the U.S. population.

ALL OF THIS be good news for the LGBT community, which has been
plagued by a crystal meth crisis. During the past decade, that crisis
has spread from the West Coast to the East, has increased risk for HIV
infection in men who have sex with men, and has profoundly impacted
the health and well being of the gay and bisexual men who have abused
it.

So why aren't the new statistics good news for our
community?

Contrary to the data cited above by ONDCP and the Sentencing Project,
a recent survey of gay and bisexual men in New York City indicates
that 25 percent of respondents had used crystal meth at least once in
the six months before the assessment.

A 2004 study estimated this figure to be 14 percent, suggesting both a
rise in meth use among gay or bisexual men in New York City during the
past two years and indicating that meth use and its devastating
effects remain an urgent concern for our community.

What really worries me more than even the survey data, however, is
that we may in fact be "winning the war on meth" and not even know
it.

The mainstream data collected on meth and other drug use would help
the LGBT community's efforts to stem the tide of abuse and dependence
if sexual orientation and gender identity demographic information were
routinely collected within those general population health samples.

The continued failure of government and health researchers to ensure
that LGBT populations are represented within general population health
samples results in our "failure" to secure adequate funding and the
resources necessary to address our critical health issues.

ON A MORE POSITIVE note, San Francisco, a city that has been
struggling with and fighting against meth use in both gay and straight
populations for almost 20 years, recently reported a significant
decline in crystal meth use among gay men-from 18 percent in 2003 down
to 10 percent last year.

Gay advocates, prevention activists and health officials all attribute
the drop to persistent and relentless education, prevention and
collaboration, including allocation of resources by government and the
LGBT community to the problem. Their immediate response to the success
of their prevention and intervention efforts was an ongoing commitment
to those efforts by launching this year's "Crystal Clear" campaign.

THE HISTORY OF the queer movement is full of instances of standing up
to challenges, joining together to confront injustice, and "acting up"
to create change.

Indeed, this year's Pride Month started on a more somber note as we
also commemorated the 25th anniversary of the first reported cases of
HIV/AIDS.

In a series of activities and media events, we paused-to remember and
honor our dead, to honor and support those living with HIV/AIDS both
here and worldwide, and to reflect on the many challenges posed by
HIV/AIDS that are still ahead.

Now that the festivities of Pride 2006 are winding down, one of the
challenges still ahead is how best to effectively address crystal meth
abuse among gay men.

Those of us in New York City working on HIV and meth prevention
leveraged the convergence of the HIV/AIDS anniversary with June Pride
month to launch a number of crystal meth awareness campaigns.

Here at The LGBT Center, we launched the "Silence=Meth" campaign, a
reworking of the original ACT UP call to action on AIDS 20 years ago.
The campaign emphasizes that no one can afford to be silent about
crystal meth and its connection to HIV risk today. As we learned with
our experiences fighting HIV/AIDS, now is not the time to "cut and
run" in this war.