General & Miscellaneous Gay & Lesbian Studies, Drugs & Controlled Substances - Social Aspects

Suicide Tuesday

Name: Suicide Tuesday
Author: Duncan Osborne
ISBN: 9780786716166

by Duncan Osborne

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Overview

Crystal methamphetamine, also known as "crystal meth," has rocked national news headlines as the often deadly party drug of choice for gay and bisexual men. The recent media blitz around the so-called "AIDS supervirus" was only one of virtually thousands of earlier stories that laid the blame for an outbreak of new HIV transmission among gay men on impaired judgment brought about by crystal meth use. The low-priced stimulant—which can be snorted, smoked, ingested, or injected—increases its user's heart rate, blood pressure, and stamina, while decreasing the need for food and sleep. Health experts estimate that 22 percent of all gay men have tried crystal meth at least once. Heterosexuals, including teenage girls, have also joined the millions of crystal meth users and addicts. In Suicide Tuesday, Duncan Osborne, the leading journalist on the topic of gay men and crystal meth, offers a critical, clear-eyed look on the history of crystal meth, its effect on gay men, its alleged link to HIV transmission, the gay community's response to the reported epidemic, as well as the media's role in fostering public awareness but also sex panic among gay people.

About the Author, Duncan Osborne

Duncan Osborne is the leading journalist reporting on the topic of crystal meth in the gay community. He is a contributing reporter to Out and The Advocate as well as serving as Associate Editor for Gay City New. His first story on meth was published in 2000 and since then has written a great deal about the drug, the community and law enforcement responses to meth, and the drug's connection to HIV and AIDS. He is also a member of the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association. He lives in Brooklyn, NY.

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Editorials

Publishers Weekly

The meat of this book is in the last chapter, in which Osborne calls for a nuanced approach to meth use in the gay community: education in harm reduction for occasional users, drug abuse treatment for chronic users. In the main, however, this effort to get beyond the "ignorance and hysteria" surrounding the drug and its link to increased HIV transmission reads like an unconvincing-and often confusing-attempt to say that meth isn't that bad. Osborne does establish that most gay men don't use meth; that most who do, use it only occasionally; and that other drugs are also linked to unsafe sex, especially alcohol. Osborne has clearly done a lot of research. He puts meth use into historical context: in the 1940s, advertisements touted speed as "for fun and going on forever." About one quarter of the book is a history of AIDS and the controversies surrounding safe sex campaigns; similar controversies surround meth use. But Osborne's argument often gets lost in pages of undigested summaries of studies, most of which are too vaguely cited for serious readers to follow up on. The book feels rushed into publication, and many of its sentences have to be read two or three times to be unraveled. What does come clear is a picture of a community hamstrung by fears that naming harmful behavior will provide fuel to conservatives all too willing to stigmatize gays, or may alienate gay men who are deadly serious about their fun. (Feb.) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.