What Is It About Gay Men and Crystal Meth? | GTC Blog

Contents:

• GAY MEN ARE DYG FROM A CRISIS WE’RE NOT TALKG ABOUT
• WHAT IS IT ABOUT GAY MEN AND CRYSTAL METH?
• METH HAS VASTATED THE GAY MUNY FOR S. A NEW TREATMENT OFFERS HOPE.
• WHY IS CRYSTAL METH SO MON THE GAY MUNY?
• USE OF CRYSTAL METHAMPHETAME AMONG GAY MEN LONDON
• EXPLORG FLUENC ON METHAMPHETAME E AMONG BLACK GAY, BISEXUAL AND OTHER MEN WHO HAVE SEX WH MEN ATLANTA: A FOC GROUP STUDY

GAY MEN ARE DYG FROM A CRISIS WE’RE NOT TALKG ABOUT

Mangia ns a work of muny health centers Los ANGELES — I me of age as a gay man Greenwich Village durg the late 1980s when the AIDS epimic was ragg. But took far too many aths to get, the gay muny is facg another crisis that we’re not talkg about and that elected officials are once aga ignorg.

One explanatn for this uld be that gay men stggle wh acceptance ways straight men don’t have to. Growg up gay and beg forced to keep that a secret for fear of fay rejectn or neighborhood bullyg n create huge securi and issu wh bt iend was rejected by his fay for beg gay and was beaten the streets of his hometown Mexi.

He sought out men on gay apps, and he end up fallg for a handsome young man who was addicted to meth. In realy, ’s g untls are many unrlyg reasons gay men start g meth — and those reasons mt be ’s an unfortunate realy that certa sid practic and beliefs are upheld wh gay male culture that put all of danger of adoptg risky behavrs. Pl, while society is signifintly more acceptg than was even 10 years ago, many gay men still stggle wh discrimatn, vlence and our own ternalized homophobia, which means dgs n be an pe for many.

WHAT IS IT ABOUT GAY MEN AND CRYSTAL METH?

I’ve watched gay men suffer om meth addictn for over 20 years — and ’s only gettg worse. He relapsed after two years of sobriety and eventually died on the one the gay muny is immune to the impact of crystal meth addictn. If we want to ntue growg as a muny, we mt immediately provi fundg and support for gay men who are the work of muny health centers I lead South Los Angel, an overwhelmg majory of patients we treat our substance abe programs are addicted to crystal meth.

METH HAS VASTATED THE GAY MUNY FOR S. A NEW TREATMENT OFFERS HOPE.

Bee meth addictn disproportnately affects gay men, hasn’t risen to the level of prry and terventn of other addictns.

Elected officials, gay lears, health re centers and muny centers mt velop fundg and programmg to rpond to this crisis. Countls gay men suffer om this cripplg addictn — and we nnot lose even more of our fay members. A versn of this article appears prt on, Sectn A, Page 27 of the New York edn wh the headle: Gay Men Are Dyg From Another Crisis.

As a gay man g of age the early 2000’s, of urse would make sense that a fairly short time-ame I would cross paths wh the darkns known as crystal meth.

WHY IS CRYSTAL METH SO MON THE GAY MUNY?

While I had been drkg, smokg pot, and dabblg psychelics and other dgs sce high school, I disvered meth when llege through the gay club scene. Comg om a tumultuo, reprsed, and trmatizg fay life, sudnly beg an acceptg space wh other gay men who enuraged me to be ee, feel good, and not hi my sexual feelgs was like a dream e te.

The lost hibns duced by the dg are such ntradictn to the lifetime of supprsn that most gay men have to adopt, that the appeal is magic. Growg up a largely homophobic society, we n’t help but velop wh feelgs of shame about who we are, and even ternalized homophobia.

USE OF CRYSTAL METHAMPHETAME AMONG GAY MEN LONDON

I believe that the batn of meth’s extremely physilly addictg quali, along wh the unique feelgs that a gay man grows up wh terms of how he feels about himself, sets up a perfect marriage between gay men and meth e, and explas why the dg is so rampant our muny. I’ve seen gay men lose their mds, kill themselv, go to jail, steal or hurt others, and I’m humbled to acknowledge how close to ath I probably me my age.

Rearch published JAMA September documented a spike after the first wave of ernment shutdowns the e of meth, e, fentanyl and hero among those diagnosed wh or at risk of substance e and the gay munyMeth has st a heavy cloud over the gay muny particular for s. The Natnal Survey on Dg Use and Health timated that 2015, past-year meth e prevalence was more than four tim higher among gay men pared to straight men — at 4. Rearch also suggts that for people who are livg wh HIV, like Roger, meth exacerbat the vis's harm to the, who said he first started takg meth at gay "circu" parti, said his e of the dg led him to stop gog to the doctor and qu takg his HIV treatment a ago.

The event follows the overdose aths of two black gay men the Wt Hollywood apartment of Democratic donor Ed Buck, who was acced last fall of jectg fatal dos of crystal methamphetame to victims for his own sexual gratifitn. There are “fluencers on Instagram wh a hundred thoand followers, and they’re dog crystal meth on the si, and no one unrstands or even knows that and everyone’s sred to talk about , ” he Puy, who has been sober for eight years, said that, like many young gay men who e to Wt Hollywood, he had not been tght about gay sex and was ashamed by .

EXPLORG FLUENC ON METHAMPHETAME E AMONG BLACK GAY, BISEXUAL AND OTHER MEN WHO HAVE SEX WH MEN ATLANTA: A FOC GROUP STUDY

While the LGBT muny has had a long history of dg e, the rise of meth age across the untry and here Florida has ntued to grow at an alarmg rate, pecially among gay men. While there are a variety of reasons as to why someone might start g the dg, for gay meth addicts, there are often siar them.

In the gay muny, sex parti have bee a regular occurrence where guts are treated to ee meth and the promise of sexual pas wh anonymo strangers. Meth has bee more wily available on gay datg apps, such as Tr and Grdr, makg easier for ers to accs the dg through party v to chemsex parti and meet other ers. For gay men who experience ternalized homophobia and shame, the unrealistic standards of sex and bety wh the gay muny n tensify their negative views on themselv and their posn wh the muny.