METH CONFERENCE TACKLES HIV ISSUE

Meth, Sex Are Often A Dangerous Mixture

At the height of his methamphetamine-induced psychosis, Josh Pace found
himself wandering through a Salt Lake City cemetery following signs to a
funeral.

He was sure the funeral he was looking for was his own.

The psychosis, along with paranoia, compulsion and restlessness, are all
classic repercussions of a long-term, high-dose methamphetamine addiction -
effects that new reports show are including HIV infection at an alarming rate.

Pace was infected with HIV through unprotected sex with a man while high on
crystal meth in June 2002.

His story reflects a rising trend of HIV infection among gay men drawn in
by the powerful allure of crystal methamphetamine and the pleasure of
having sex while high.

"Every sense is heightened. Everything is intense," said the 29-year-old
Salt Lake City man.

The prevention and education of drug use and the promotion of safe sex were
focal points of the inaugural National Conference on Methamphetamine, HIV
and Hepatitis held Friday and Saturday in Salt Lake City. The conference,
which was sponsored by the Harm Reduction Project, attracted more than 900
attendees from around the country.

The harm-reduction model sits in stark contrast to the conservative
abstinence-only-based curriculum of Utah's education programs in that it
accepts drug use and sexual behavior and then searches for ways to inform
at-risk populations about how to engage in those behaviors safely.

People have been using some kind of substance for ages, said Patrick
Fleming, director of the Salt Lake County Division of Substance Abuse,
during a panel discussion Friday night. "It's the consequence of having a
well-developed brain."

Though not connected with the weekend conference, Pace agreed to tell his
story.

He says he tried meth for the first time when he was 18 years old. He
didn't use the drug again until he was 24, at which time he was battling
depression and was looking for an escape.

"I was always open to experimentation. I found it at parties and in the
club scene. That's back when it was all just fun for me," Pace said. "I did
meth and everything was fine. I was happy."

That was December 2001.

For a few months, his meth use was recreational - every other weekend. But
it didn't take long before it became a weekly event, and the weekends
stretched from Thursday to Tuesday.

On leave from his job for the depression, Pace had plenty of time to cycle
the party from one friend to the next. Within a few months, meth had become
his lifestyle. He would snort, smoke or ingest the powerful stimulant, he said.

For Pace, having sex on meth did not become a regular habit until more than
a year after he began using. The incident in which he contracted the virus
in June 2002 was a random, brief and seemingly unsatisfying event, he said.

By December 2002, and with his life in shambles - his job gone, his car
impounded, his belongings confiscated when he lost his apartment, and his
original "party" friends all taken in by their own addictions - Pace turned
to the Internet for validation through sex.

From a random online hookup in March 2003, Pace found a man who was also
HIV positive who was looking to "PNP," an acronym that stands for "Party
and Play," or have sex on meth. It was his first experience with a needle.

"I figured, why not? Snorting and smoking isn't getting me high," Pace
said. "And the rush was wonderful."

An HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment report funded by the Utah Department
of Health in 2004 revealed that youths, men who have sex with men,
intravenous drug users and inmates in prison or jail were more likely to
report having sex under the influence of drugs when compared with the
overall sample of 425 respondents.

Mark Biggler, of Weber State University, explained in a conference lecture
on Saturday that the first step in preventing the PNP phenomena is to
address the pleasure factor associated with sex and drugs.

"There is a pleasure that bridges meth and sex. To recognize pleasure as a
central theme keeps us from lying about why it is appealing," he said, and
that honesty opens the door to effective education.

Pace said he took tips from a book distributed by the Harm Reduction
Project titled Getting Off Right, which taught him how to safely process
and inject meth.

"Most people want to take care of themselves, and that includes people who
use drugs," said Michael Siever, director of the San Francisco-based
Stonewall Project. The harm-reduction model works because it allows people
to be counseled on how to reduce their drug use to a manageable level.

"By not telling them what to do, they can make the decision to quit by
themselves," Siever said.

For Pace, that decision came in November after spending most of the year
bouncing from house to house, getting high and wandering the streets at
night. His weight fell to 135 pounds. He began an outpatient drug-treatment
program that has helped him identify the depression that pushed him toward
the drug. He completed four months of the seven-month program and has not
touched meth since November. His fear of the psychosis keeps him clean, he
said.

Today, at 160 pounds, Pace is pleased with the man he sees in the mirror.
He has a job, an apartment and a partner. Telling his story was a big, and
necessary, step to his recovery by letting go of the shame of having
contracted HIV and the struggle of overcoming a drug addiction.

"Nothing really good comes of silence," he said.