Bay Area Reporter - December 6, 2007
Seth Hemmelgarn

"It will be one of the first sets of ads on television that targets gay men and depicts the community in what I believe is a very positive light," said Dana Van Gorder, executive director of Project Inform, a San Francisco-based HIV/AIDS information and advocacy group. Van Gorder helped promote the ad campaign to the state legislature when he was director of state and local policy at the San Francisco AIDS Foundation.

The ads should begin appearing in January. Lisa Fisher, a state spokeswoman, said the ads would appear on TV, in gay bars, and in bus shelters. Van Gorder declined to reveal specifics on the working concept of the ads, but he said they will include "a very positive message for gay men."

"They are not sexually explicit," he said. "I think a general audience might view them pretty sympathetically as well." Van Gorder said the TV ads would air on cable stations most likely to have gay or gay-friendly audiences. Fisher said the ads would appear in San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego, Sacramento, and Fresno.

Van Gorder said that the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center was also instrumental in promoting the campaign. He said the idea at first was to just target men who have sex with men, but the focus of the campaign eventually broadened, as state officials reviewed research on other groups they're concerned about. The state will spend $10 million a year on the campaign over three years, he said.

Better World Advertising, which was responsible for the Healthy Penis syphilis awareness campaign, among others, has been hired as a subcontractor to work on the campaign.

Les Pappas, the firm's president, declined to reveal details of what the TV ad will look like, but he said it will feature "gay men in love talking about meth." Pappas said besides advertising, his company would also be working on the public relations side of the campaign, which will include outreach to bars and festivals.

Pappas, who said the firm's working to make sure gay men aren't "demonized" in the ad, also said, "It's very significant that the state of California is doing this. It's probably going to be the largest meth campaign ever in the country ... certainly the largest ever to target gay men."

Pappas deferred questions about how much money Better World will receive under the contract to the state. State officials did not respond with the financial breakdown by press time.

"I think it's a good idea to try to increase general awareness about the problem," said Dr. Jeffrey Klausner, director of sexually transmitted disease prevention and control for the San Francisco health department. "To have a focused topic eventually energizes people."

In San Francisco, the rate of methamphetamine use is highest among men who have sex with men, Klausner said. However, users statewide are increasingly younger and straight, he noted.

The drug "continues to be a huge concern because use is still high in the gay community," said Michael Siever, Ph.D., director of the Stonewall Project, the organization that runs http://www.tweaker.org, which provides information on methamphetamine use and takes a harm reduction approach. A Spanish-language version of the site was launched in November. The Stonewall Project is now part of SFAF.

Siever, who also sits on the Mayor's Task Force on Crystal Methamphetamine, said research over the years has shown 15 percent to 20 percent of gay men in the city use methamphetamine "at least occasionally." He said, "That's a really high number for any drug," but the numbers don't mean all those peoples' use is "out of control."

Klausner and other health advocates have long maintained that people who use methamphetamine are several times more likely to contract HIV and other STDs, since they are more likely to have multiple sex partners or practice unsafe sex. People who inject the drug can also become infected with HIV when they share needles.

According to San Francisco health department data, there were 345 emergency room visits related to methamphetamine use among men this year through October, down from 406 during the same period last year. Among women, there were 94 visits through October of this year, compared to 92 during the same period last year.

Besides ruining relationships at home and causing trouble at work, extended use can also cause brain damage and other health issues.

Siever said, "I'm glad the state is finally waking up," but he hopes to see more money spent on treatment. He said the state and federal government tend to pour money into law enforcement.

A statement from the state's alcohol and drug department said, "methamphetamine is the primary drug of abuse for 36 percent of individuals seeking publicly funded treatment."

Like Siever, Fisher said methamphetamine addiction has often been seen as untreatable. However, although methamphetamine addicts may require a longer course of treatment, "treatment does work."

For more information, visit www.tweaker.org or the state's alcohol and drug programs site at www.adp.ca.gov.

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