'Crystal Meth' Use Boosts STD Rates Among Gay Men
Thu Mar 11, 11:47 PM ET
By Randy Dotinga
HealthDay Reporter


THURSDAY, March 11 (HealthDayNews) -- Crystal methamphetamine -- or "speed" -- seems to be a driving factor behind higher rates of sexually transmitted disease among gay and bisexual men.


In one study from San Francisco, gay men who visited a health clinic were twice as likely to be infected with the AIDS virus if they had recently used the illegal drug. And they were nearly five times as likely to be diagnosed with syphilis.


Armed with the new statistics, federal health officials said Wednesday they're searching for effective ways to cope with what they see as a growing threat. Among other things, researchers are studying the value of rapid sexually transmitted disease (STD) tests and exploring the use of the Internet to notify the sex partners of STD patients about their risks.


"There are a lot of innovations under way. We expect to be able to share more of these as we learn more about their success and limitations," said Dr. Ronald O. Valdiserri, deputy director of the HIV, STD and TB prevention center at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. He spoke during a press briefing Wednesday at the National STD Prevention Conference in Philadelphia.


Overall, sexually transmitted diseases strike an estimated 19 million Americans a year, at a cost of $15 billion, said Dr. John Douglas, director of the CDC's STD prevention efforts. While many of those infected are heterosexual, federal health officials are devoting much of their attention to what Douglas calls "crescendoing" STD rates among gay and bisexual men.


Syphilis, in particular, is drawing much attention. The federal government had hoped to virtually eradicate the disease during this decade, but an epidemic among gay and bisexual men during the past four years has scuttled those plans.


Gonorrhea also strikes men who have sex with men, but rates have dropped over the last few years.


AIDS, meanwhile, remains the greatest threat of all the sexually transmitted diseases. Researchers can't easily track the rate of new HIV infections because many people don't get diagnosed for years. However, federal statistics released last fall revealed that infection rates among gay and bisexual men in 29 states grew by 17 percent from 1999 to 2002.

Experts fear the AIDS epidemic is growing worse because gay men are abandoning safer sex practices, possibly because of "condom fatigue" or a misplaced belief that AIDS is a treatable condition.


In recent months, community activists and researchers have focused on the role of crystal meth, also known as "crystal" or "meth." The drug heightens sensations of all types, making it a popular drug to take before intercourse. According to researchers, the drug seems to be especially popular among men who engage in unprotected anal sex, Valdisseri said.


Several new studies from San Francisco released Wednesday document the link between crystal meth use and unsafe sex. One study found that 16 percent of gay and bisexual men used crystal meth the last time they had anal sex; the users were twice as likely as others to not use condoms during receptive anal sex, Valdisseri said.


Another study reported that 17.4 percent of gay and bisexual men who visited an STD clinic had used crystal meth within the past four weeks, he said.


Elsewhere, research in Seattle suggests crystal meth users are three to four times more likely to be infected with HIV than other gay and bisexual men.


The findings also provide more evidence that many HIV-positive men continue to put others at risk by having unprotected sex. "They need a lifetime of support to maintain safe behaviors and protect their health and their partners' health," Valdiserri says.


Researchers say there are several promising ways to prevent STDS among gay and bisexual men:


Notification of sex partners of STD patients through the Internet. Experts say a growing number of gay and bisexual men meet anonymous sex partners through the Internet. Several small studies suggest that many men would respond to heads-up e-mails from health officials warning them that their partners are infected with STDs. Better outreach to the gay community through the media and in venues like bars, sex clubs and parties. Researchers say the efforts need to both educate gay men and encourage them to take responsibility for their decisions regarding sex.


More free STD tests and greater use of rapid tests for HIV infection and, now, for syphilis that allow people to get results immediately. "If we can do 'one-stop shopping' for people at various high-risk venues that's going to help," Valdiserri said.


But a one-size-fits-all approach to STD prevention remains elusive. "If we had a simple answer, we could close up shop," said Dr. Kenneth Mayer, an AIDS expert and professor of medicine and community health at Brown University.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp...tesamonggaymen

More information
To learn more about HIV/AIDS and treatments, visit the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. To get information about crystal methamphetamine and HIV, try AIDSHotline.org.
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More evidence that gays are promiscuous in their relations and in their drugs usage.

I believe multiple warnings have been issued to folks cutting and pasting articles with no commentary. And don't try to pass off your one line of of homophobic hate speech as commentary.

Next Week: Eating Food Makes Lesbians Fatter

I stopped reading when the article said 'Crystal methamphetamine -- or "speed" '

Amphetamine Sulphate is "speed"
Crystal Meth is "ice" or some other name, but it ain't speed.

It's always good when a reporter gets their facts wrong in the first line (no pun intended).

Anyone else remember how people would always go on and on about how if women were allowed rights it'd spell the end of the world, or how about the fact that blacks were blah blah blah blah.


Yeah, you know..all of that BS "factual data" which was thrown around to try and support a clearly discriminatory or racial feeling.

One or two sentences is all that is needed as commentary..... a jumping off point as it were for discussions.....

I would have to disagree with you on that point...... Speed comes in two forms... powdered and crystallized......

here...

""Crystal methamphetamine is a colorless, odorless form of d-methamphetamine, a powerful and highly addictive synthetic (man-made) stimulant. Crystal methamphetamine typically resembles small fragments of glass or shiny blue-white "rocks" of various sizes. Like powdered methamphetamine (another form of d-methamphetamine), crystal methamphetamine is abused because of the long-lasting euphoric effects it produces. Crystal methamphetamine, however, typically has a higher purity level and may produce even longer-lasting and more intense physiological effects than the powdered form of the drug.""

As such they are both one and the same drug...

I believe I said the following:

Are YOU blind?

Amphetamine Sulphates are a completely different drug altogether than waht this article is speaking of.... most often coming in pill forms and taken orally.... the high off of sulphates does not last for quite as long... most often only 3-4 hours.....

drug slang varies from location to location, and subculture to subculture

i've heard speed used generically for any upper in many different circumstances, street slang does not lend itself well to pedantic arguments

the article in no way proves the casuality implied in the headline between the drugs and the infections
a more likely theory to me would be that people who crave the thrills of speed and don't care about the risks, are the exact same people who crave the thrills of barebacking it, and don't care about the risks.

More evidence that gays are promiscuous in their relations and in their drugs usage.
given that the article explicitly states that it's a minority of the gay population that has this issue with drugs and stds, extrapolating from that to all gays is clearly logically fallacious and unwarranted

If you weren't a mod a I'd... I'd...

You're contradicting yourself (and not citing your sources, goddamn you!)

I'll agree with your second post that I quoted - the article isn't talking about Amphetamine Sulphate - i.e. speed - it's talking about Crystal Meth. But powdered Crystal Meth isn't Amphetamine Sulphate.

Crystal Meth is nasty stuff and relatively new (well, it's been around for years but not years like speed)- here's the page about it: http://www.urban75.com/Drugs/meth.html - it looks like clear chunky crystals.

Speed (Amphetamine Sulphate) is just good ol' speed - here's the page about it: http://www.urban75.com/Drugs/drugspeed.html (same site) - it looks like white powder.

And good speed can last for far more than 3-4 hours - good quality base speed can keep you going for 6-12 hours

This doesn't mean that tweek causes any of these diseases. It just so happens that they coincide.

Ever met a tweeker? They're dirty people. Anyone dirty enough to tweek is dirty enough to get diseases. It does not mean that the two are related.

meth was predominantly a "gay" drug.

It's nasty stuff.

It's no longer a gay drug - its use is now mainstream.

AIDS takes longer to incubate than a drug takes to spread to the mainstream from a minority user group.

Conclusion: this has got nothing to do with gay people (unless you're pursuing some homophobic agenda) and evrything to do with drug use...

The correct headline, therefore:

'Crystal Meth' Use Boosts STD Rates Among People

...Gays are more likely to be drug users? I've never heard that one before- what's your source on this?
I mostly agree with the first two though.
The thing is though- studies like this can be totally true- statiscally. But it's angers some people because they think it passes a judgement on all people that are homosexual. I rememberin Canada a few years ago- statistics in a school showed that Islamic and Black kids were acheiving lower scores- but the study was trashed because it was deemed racist. But it was true- people just didn't like saying it that way. It's not that all Islamic or black kids do badly in school, but in the case of that particular school they were a high percentage.

And that comment in the first paragraph was totally gay biased- don't try to say otherwise. Replace "gays" with "blacks" or"mexicans" and you have a totally racist comment.

You might want to re-read my last post about the facts that meth use amongst heterosexuals is growing, and the incubation period for HIV/AIDS. Do the maths. Obviously it will take a time period for the HIV/AIDS infection rate to be documented within the heterosexual community, as meth use becomes more mainstream. The common sense solution to the whole problem is "don't do meth".

Protected anal sex (which, JLB, is not strictly a gay thing - a quick search on google will find several thousand sites proving otherwise ) is indeed more risky than:

1. Protected vaginal penetrative sex
2. Oral sex
3. Mutual masturbation
4. Fisting
5. Do I really need to continue?

My point is that only 1 of the 5 above is a strictly heterosexual activity (and even then I guess you could argue about lesbians using strap-ons). Gay sex can involve all of numbers 2-5 and is not restricted to anal sex (a homo- and hetero-sexual activity in any case). I know women who will only take it up the arse.

I don't believe you claim. Reputable citation of statistics please for all 3 claims, otherwise they are rejected.

Most hetero's don't engage in anal sex?
I'm...not quite certain about the accuracy of that statement buddo.
Perhaps if you could provide some factual data to somewhat back that claim..?

Because..well..most hetero's I know have at least experimented with anal sex, not to mention have done it multiple times.

Crystal methamphetamines has been around for a good 20+ years.... I myself was addicted to it for almost a year back in "89..... and there is a great difference between powdered Amphetamines and crystal meth..... in potency..... the quote was from a federal drug awareness site... sorry I did not list the site itself.... but it is a direct quote from them.....