Chicago Tribune - March 13, 2005
Johnathon E. Briggs, Tribune staff reporter

It's 2 a.m., the Sunday after Valentine's Day, and the three-day marathon of parties known as Fireball Weekend is roaring. The train terminal has been transformed into a psychedelic wonderland with laser beams crisscrossing the marble floor in geometric patterns.

In the gay community, the spectacle is known as a "circuit party"--after circuit-training routines in gyms--and it is one of a hundred such events that take place annually in the United States and elsewhere.

Sponsored by the non-profit Hearts Foundation, Fireball doubles as an AIDS fundraiser and a venue for gay and bisexual men to let their hair down. But for some the weekend has a darker side defined by sex and club drugs such as methamphetamine--a troubling reality that has been linked to unsafe sex and the transmission of HIV.

Asked why he flocked to the annual event, Doug, a gaunt, shirtless twenty-something from Ohio who declined to give his last name, said nonchalantly, "The drugs."

"It's a win-win," he said of the Great Hall event, a $95-a-ticket affair that included an aerial trapeze act and other performances. "We have fun, and they get our money."

There's a downside to the high. Two people overdosed on crystal meth during Fireball weekend, according to officials at the downtown drug treatment facility Haymarket Center, citing figures collected by the Drug Abuse Warning Network, which monitors drug-related emergency room visits.

Last year, 10 people overdosed on meth during the same period, Haymarket officials said.

And at the Union Station party, police arrested a man after a pat-down search by Fireball security staff turned up ecstasy and the date-rape drug GHB.

Hearts Foundation officials said they were not aware of the overdoses, adding that their own safety and security reports show the event went smoothly.

"You go to any concert ... and people inevitably are going to be experimenting with drugs," Hearts Foundation vice president Todd Armbruster said. "Unfortunately, I don't know what the answer is to control that. It's disheartening."

Edward Negron, 34, was once on the circuit scene. That's how he encountered crystal meth, a drug he at first shunned. But in 1999, he said, someone at a party tricked him into snorting a line of meth (he thought it was cocaine). He soon became hooked. "It felt like a loving world, where everyone loves you and hugs you," said the former Army Reservist who grew up in Humboldt Park. "Who doesn't want that? I was accepted."

Meth ruled his life for six months, keeping him awake for days, robbing 39 pounds from his hefty frame and fueling his libido. He engaged in sex parties, the thought of using a condom sometimes vanishing in the haze of meth. "You're regretting it the whole time, but it feels so good. You're so high," recalled Negron, who is grateful he did not contract HIV.

But the high life came with a price. Four of his friends overdosed on meth. Three others succumbed to AIDS.

As his use increased, he moved away from the club scene, becoming a paranoid recluse in his Lakeview apartment. When he ventured out in May 1999 to make a drug sale, he was arrested--a blessing, he said, that set him on the path to recovery. With six years of sobriety under his belt, Negron is now a student at Harold Washington College studying to become an alcohol and drug counselor.

But Dr. William Wong, medical director for the city Health Department's division on HIV, AIDS and sexually transmitted diseases, knows that some Fireballers won't be so lucky. That's why at 4 a.m. he arrived at Union Station lugging boxes brimming with condoms, lubricant and health information.

As his outreach team handed out safe-sex goodie bags, Wong surveyed the throngs of men--muscle boys in tight T-shirts, drag queens in sequins, go-go dancers in Speedos--dancing, kissing or holding hands. "These events are opportunities to get a message across about HIV prevention," Wong said.

By 6 a.m., eight hours after the party began, the remaining so-called circuit boys streamed out of the Great Hall in ones and twos.

"Be safe. Please pick it up!" a Hearts Foundation volunteer urged, reminding them of the safe-sex packs.

Appearing too beautiful to be bothered, a young man in sunglasses, a clingy tank top and loose-fitting Diesel jeans coolly grabbed the condoms before stepping into the dawn.
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