CRYSTAL METH RISKS DETAILED AT FORUM

PROVINCETOWN - Being raped and beaten did not persuade Danny to give
up crystal meth. Nor was he convinced of the drug's destructive
powers, despite wrecking two cars, being sentenced to jail and trying
to commit suicide.

By all accounts, this former Provincetown resident should be dead -
either from an overdose or the behaviors that accompanied his drug-taking.

"The only reason I'm alive today is because I have a son," says
Danny, who asked that his last name not be used. Danny now lives in
Boston and was instrumental in organizing some of that city's first
12-step crystal meth support groups.

He was back on the Cape yesterday to talk about his experiences with
crystal meth at a daylong conference on methamphetamine in Provincetown.

Held at the United Methodist Church, the conference drew more than
100 people, including health and human services workers, counselors
and law enforcement officers.

Massachusetts health and human services authorities are worried that
increasing use of this drug, which often lowers inhibitions, will
result in an explosion of risky sexual behaviors and subsequent
increase in sexually transmitted diseases.

Yesterday's conference was sponsored by the Crystal Meth Task Force,
a group that includes the AIDS Support Group of Cape Cod, Outer Cape
Health Services, Gosnold on Cape Cod, Nantucket AIDS Network and the
Infectious Disease Clinical Services of Cape Cod Healthcare.

Crystal meth, the popular name for methamphetamine, is a potent drug
that can be taken orally, injected or smoked. Like other
amphetamines, it works by flooding the brain with serotonin and
dopamine, often infusing the user with a sense of euphoria.
Additionally, it releases adrenaline in the body, enabling increased
physical endurance.

Users frequently report increased productivity and sexual endurance.
However, when the drug wears off, there is a resulting physical and
mental crash, leaving users craving more and more of the drug.

"You're always chasing that feeling of the first high you got," said
Danny. "You never find it again."

Crystal meth has long bedeviled the rest of the country, particularly
the West Coast and Midwest, where it has established a stranglehold
on some rural communities.

It is a potent stimulant, said by some to be highly addictive. It is
a feature of the club and party circuit in Boston, where users often
take the drug and remain awake and active for days before crashing.

On the Cape, its use seems primarily concentrated in Provincetown,
among a subculture of young gay men who frequent a party and club
circuit, engaging in sex with multiple partners.

But the drug is already flooding New Bedford and is readily available
in Boston - both sources of illicit drugs on the Cape, according to
some of the experts at the conference.

Its arrival and use among the general population of drug abusers in
Barnstable County is "only a matter of time," they said.

To date, the free market may have limited crystal meth use on the
Cape. In recent years, heroin and cocaine have been cheaper. Heroin
sells for about $10 a dose. A gram of cocaine costs anywhere from $80
to $100 on the Cape, and one gram can contain up to four doses,
according to police.

Crystal meth, on the other hand, sells for about $80 to $100 per
gram, and one gram is a single dose.

But as the price goes down, it could become a more popular drug on
the Cape. According to the Drug Enforcement Administration,
methamphetamine is a relatively simple drug to make.

Precursor chemicals like pseudoephedrine can be extracted from
over-the-counter cold medications and combined with ingredients that
are not only readily available but also inexpensive. For
approximately $100, a "cook" can produce $1,000 worth of
methamphetamine, according to the DEA.

Patricia Case, a keynote speaker at the conference and a social
epidemiologist at Harvard Medical School, summed up the abuser's
perspective with an observation from the late writer Hunter S.
Thompson, a known amphetamine user.

"Faster, faster until the thrill of speed overcomes the thrill of
death," Thompson wrote.