Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2005. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Bay Area Reporter - September 22, 2005
Ian Armstrong Elwood
On Wednesday, September 14 at the Women's Building in San Francisco, state Senator Carole Migden (D-San Francisco) along with Dufty and Supervisor Sophie Maxwell introduced a panel of methamphetamine specialists, who worked to inform members of the queer community about the dangers of meth use, specifically in gay and bisexual men who are at high risk for HIV. Speaking about the widespread use of meth in San Francisco, Dufty said that the LGBT community would rise to this challenge as it did dealing with the AIDS pandemic. Speakers on the panel addressed a wide range of issues concerning meth use.
Dr. Valerie Gruber, program director of Stimulant Treatment Outpatient Program (STOP), stated that meth addicts routinely adopt "tweak projects" in which they get high in order to get unpleasant work finished such as cleaning the house, manual labor, or turning tricks.
One problem associated with methamphetamine use, addressed by Dr. Francisco Ramos-Gomez, professor of dentistry at the University of California San Francisco, is "meth mouth," a condition that leads to accelerated tooth decay and tooth loss caused by bacterial increases due to dry mouth.
Dr. Brad Hare of the Positive Health program at San Francisco General Hospital spoke of his experiences working at a meth clinic, in which people are routinely admitted while tweaking. In his experiences a high percentage of his patients who were gay and bisexual men contracted HIV while high on meth. Another issue he spoke about was people who were HIV-positive and using meth were too disorganized to maintain the highly regimented daily routine of medication required to stay healthy and thus, HIV-positive people are suffering higher incidences of medical complications due to meth use.
Addressing the elected officials in the room, Hare said that not enough resources were allocated.
"This is a problem and we are not going to take it anymore," he said.
On a more positive note, he commended the start of the meth task force, and a program called Positive Reinforcement Opportunity Project in which meth users are given living expenses vouchers for negative drug testing results taken tri-weekly at a clinic.
To enroll in PROP call (415) 355-2000. To enroll in STOP call (415) 502-577. For more information about meth use, visit www.dumptina.org or www.tweaker.org.
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