Crystal Meth Ravaging Gays

Methamphetamine use in the gay community is soaring, and many are linking meth use to a recent increase in AIDS among gays after many years of decline. From the Philadelphia Daily News:

"Ice [methadrine] has ravaged the gay community," Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas P. Hogan recently told a federal judge, at another ice dealer's sentencing hearing.

"It is a vicious cycle," the prosecutor added. "Medical studies show that ice drops inhibitions, increases sexual arousal for a period of days.

"In the gay community, that then has resulted in an increase in AIDS... And then, the people who have AIDS and who are HIV positive become fatigued and turn to ice once again to relieve those symptoms.

"So, it has totally ravaged the gay community in Philadelphia and across the United States. And it is now moving out into the straight community," Hogan told the judge.