Series: Part 3 Of 8

TWO FACES OF METH ON THE WEB

Online: A Sex Partner To Get High With And Warnings About The Dangers Are
Both Easily Found.

LONG BEACH - They're as subtle as a thunderstorm. Sweat glistening on
copper skin, men pose lasciviously and scantily clad, marketing their
bodies like produce.

Hundreds of homoerotic sites that exist online are not only an endless
buffet of sex, but of drugs, namely crystal meth. So much that many men in
recovery cite the Internet as one of their most powerful temptations, and
triggers.

Some say the Web plays a frightening role in fueling the spread of meth
and, in turn, HIV in the gay community. But the Internet also plays a part
in promoting safety, deglamorizing the drug and educating users about its
crippling effects.

At first glance, the personals sections on popular gay Web sites such as
www.manhunt.net, www.bareback.com and www.gay.com, are similar to
heterosexual dating sites, just racier.

Enter Party and Play.

Party and Play, or PNP, is Internet code for sex and any combination of
crystal meth, Viagra and MDMA, also known as ecstasy. The code, if you know
where to use it, has aided easy access to both crystal meth and sex
partners, in part triggering the Internet's new moniker in the gay
community: "bathhouse of the new millennium."

Paul Duncan, who began using meth three years after being diagnosed with
AIDS, spent countless hours on sites like www.gay.com, www.bareback.com and
even Yahoo Messenger looking for "tricks" (partners) and Tina, a common
nickname for crystal meth.

"I liked it better," he said. "It didn't cost any money. I didn't have to
go to the bar, I didn't have to go to the baths. I didn't have to go to a
parking lot."

Debbie Collins, manager of the HIV and STD prevention clinic at the Long
Beach Department of Health and Human Services, blames the Internet for the
rapid growth of crystal meth over the past five years. She calls the Web
the "fuel for fire" for meth use and HIV.

Upon entering www.bareback.com, a warning comes up: "This site contains
highly graphic imagery and text. If it is a violation of the standards of
your community or if you find graphic content personally offensive, you
should leave now."

In addition to racy personal ads, the site includes a calendar of sex parties.

"When they're talking about partying, 90 percent of the time, they're
talking about meth," said Patrick Piper, a behavioral interventions trainer
who leads workshops on crystal meth and its role in the gay community.

But the site also has a message urging HIV-positive men to limit sex to
others with the virus.

Piper argues that there's a flip side to the Internet. Behind a computer
screen, men often feel more comfortable disclosing their HIV status or
insisting on protection with casual sex partners. And negotiation that
might be difficult face to face is easier in the anonymous online setting.

"On these sites, you can check what kind of sexual behavior you do or don't
want to engage in," Piper said.

Indeed, there are profiles that say "No PNP," and HIV-positive men "seeking
positives."

In 1997, Michael Siever started a popular Web site for gay crystal meth
users called www.tweaker.org. Though somewhat controversial, the site's
primary mission is providing users with information on how the drug could
be affecting their body and lifestyle.

"We're trying to be different from government messages that tend to hit you
over the head with the egg-in-the-frying-pan thing," Siever said.

Leading into the site is an animation of a hyper-masculine man with a
wicked smile and devil horns. Siever calls him the speed demon.

"He represents what you feel like you will become on crystal," Siever said.
"It makes the shiest wallflower the life of the party. It makes you feel
omnipotent, able to do anything. Everyone becomes sexually attractive,
everyone becomes this stud."

But deeper inside the site is a caricature of the other side of crystal
meth: a man, shaking and sweating, considerably gaunter than the speed demon.

Some protest the more controversial aspects of the site.

Alison Kogut, deputy press secretary at the Office of National Drug Control
Policy calls sites like www.tweaker.org harmful and dangerous.

"Harm reduction accepts and allows the continued and unabated use of
harmful substances and the loss of people cannot be recovered," she said.
"At best, harm reduction is a halfway measure and halfhearted approach that
invites deceit."

But Siever said men have stopped using after reading about effects of the
drug on their brains, hearts, kidneys and livers.

"For every complaint, we get 20 or 30 who call and say, 'Thank God, it's
wonderful, it saved my life."'