CRYSTAL & HIV, WHO KNOWS?

ACT too poor to evaluate reports

Toronto's largest AIDS organization is under pressure to take a position --
any position -- on the link between crystal methamphetamine use and the
spread of HIV among gay men in North America, in the face of growing
concerns by some healthcare workers elsewhere.

But with little funding earmarked for meth research, the AIDS Committee Of
Toronto (ACT) says it's just not ready to make a definitive statement.

"One of the challenges that we've been facing here at ACT is that we don't
have any dedicated money, as it currently exists, toward a meth campaign,"
says John Maxwell, ACT's director of communications and community education.

This lack of funding, Maxwell says, has prevented ACT from being able to
take a good look at the research that already exists on a possible meth/HIV
link, let alone being able to conduct research of its own. So Maxwell says
ACT is not ready to mount a meth/HIV awareness campaign.

"I think they've dropped the ball on this," says community activist Duncan
MacLachlan. "We talk about studies, but the incidents are rising
dramatically in the meantime. What are we going to do?"

MacLachlan says evidence from other cities and anecdotal evidence suggests
that the problem is getting worse.

"There needs to be strong messaging about crystal meth. ACT uses language
not wanting to scare people... but crystal is very scary."

Experts in New York, Chicago, Boston and Santa Fe, for example, have been
more sweeping in their condemnation of crystal meth use, its addictive
properties and its contribution to increased levels of HIV infection. But
not everyone is hysterical. The website of San Francisco AIDS Foundation,
considered to be cutting edge on HIV/AIDS prevention campaigns, offers an
FAQ on crystal, calmly stating, "Many people when high on crystal do not use
condoms and may have sex with many different sex partners during a speed
run."

Even ACT's recent party-drug study, which examined the sex and drug habits
of 74 local gay partygoers, was inconclusive on the possible links between
drug use and HIV contraction, especially when it comes to crystal meth.

"I think also a problem with [the party-drug study] was when the data was
collected I don't think meth was nearly as prevalent in Toronto's gay
community as perhaps it is now," says Maxwell. "It's unfortunate that we
didn't capture a larger sample of guys who had used meth."

ACT says it's doing its best to rally support from government and other
organizations. This week it's putting together a crystal meth taskforce that
will bring together workers from the Hassle Free Clinic and the Centre For
Addiction And Mental Health. The taskforce will attempt to pool resources,
compile information and come up with a game plan for a possible meth
campaign.

* ACT provides a position paper at Acttoronto.org, and drug-specific
information at Torontovibe.com. Tweakers.org contains harm reduction
information about crystal meth.