AIDS and Methamphetamine: The Perfect Storm
December 2, 2008
Methamphetamine use has a direct impact on the spread of AIDS, due to the changes that occur in the brains and bodies of users who are high on the drug. Research about the popularity of meth is fueled by two aspects of the drug that entice new users to try it and then keeps them hooked. One is its ability to remove a person’s inhibitions. Second it increases sex drive. Both of which make it particularly popular among gay and bisexual males. And both of which puts them in harm’s way.
Feeling less shy, gay and bisexual males are more apt to engage in unprotected sex, significantly increasing the odds that they will be infected by AIDS, HIV and other STDs. Additionally, physiological changes that take place in a meth user, make the disease easier to transmit. Once infected, they may not realize that they have contracted the disease, furthering the odds they will go on to infect their gay, bisexual, and heterosexual parners.
Methamphetamine use also may be particularly attractive to some gay/bisexual men who know they have HIV because the drug makes them feel better mentally and physically. While high on the drug, they are better able to cope with their diagnosis and any thoughts about how HIV might end their life prematurely. Essentially meth plays the role of a reassuring friend who tells them to forget about their illness for awhile and encourages them to go out and have “some fun”. But that relationship is just one more reason why meth is often called “the devil”.
Between 1,039,000 and 1,185,000 people in the United States were living with HIV/AIDS at the end of 2003. The highest percentage of those living with HIV/AIDS were gay and bisexual men.
A 1997 study of gay, bisexual, and transgender residents of LA County, 54 of which were currently using meth and 9 of which were former users revealed that 79% of them didn’t use condoms and 41% of them were HIV positive. 64% of them also categorized themselves as a “functional” meth user.
Use of methamphetamine among heterosexual men also places them and their partners at greater risk of contracting AIDS. Besides having unprotected sex, HIV infected meth addicts who inject meth also share needles with other meth abusers. Those needles may also be left lying around the meth abusers home where their children or other children may find and handle them, increasing their risk of accidental infection.
Meth “the devil” doesn’t care who you are or how old you are. One way or another, the goal of methamphetamine is to take away whatever means the most to you, whether that means taking your life or the lives of those you hold most dear.
Click here to read a PDF report about the relationship between AIDS and meth.
Comments
What do you think?