The Beast in the Bathhouse [It's Meth]

The New York Times ^ | January 12, 2004 | ANDREW JACOBS

[aculeus]

Bob looked haggard but was feeling fabulous. Chewing gum at a manic clip, circling the labyrinthine halls of the West Side Club on a recent Sunday afternoon, he had been awake since Friday, thanks to a glassine pouch of crystalline powder he had tucked beneath the mattress of a room he rented in this Chelsea bathhouse.

The powder, known as methamphetamine, or crystal meth, had helped Bob conquer a half-dozen sex partners during a 35-hour binge. Like many of the men cruising the two-level club lined with closet-size cubicles, Bob, a 37-year-old advertising copywriter, was "tweaking," high on a wildly addictive stimulant that has been sweeping through Manhattan's gay ghettos.

"The stuff is a wonder," he said, taking a pause from his prowling, his scrawny frame wrapped in a white towel. Asked about condoms and the niceties of safe sex, Bob shrugged. "Whatever," he said, turning away.

At the club, there were plenty of condoms for the taking, courtesy of the management, but in conversations with a dozen patrons who acknowledged using crystal, only two men said they were following the rules of engagement in the age of AIDS. "Some guys just throw you out of the room if you pull one out," said one of the men, James, who, like everyone else, would not give his full name. "To them, rubbers are a killjoy."

Health officials say a sharp increase in the number of syphilis cases in the city indicates an increase in unsafe sex, which they fear may lead to a resurgence in H.I.V. transmission.

For now, researchers say, crystal meth use in the city is largely confined to gay white men in Manhattan, although they fear its eventual spread to the wider gay population and beyond.

There are no numbers, however, to show what health care workers say is the growing role that crystal meth is playing in transmitting H.I.V. Although the evidence is anecdotal, health officials say that crystal, which erases inhibitions and spurs sex marathons with multiple partners, is helping to spread the virus.

According to the city's largest private clinic for lesbians and gay men, Callen-Lorde Community Health Center, two-thirds of those testing positive for H.I.V. since June acknowledged that crystal meth was a factor in their infection.

Dr. Howard Grossman, one of the city's best-known AIDS specialists, said more than half the men who test positive in his private practice blamed methamphetamine. "This drug is destroying our community," he said. "It just seems to be getting worse and worse, and no one is doing anything about it."

[NYFriend]

Technically, if your not paying for sex its legal. The YMCA's used to be the same thing, a hang-out for people looking for multiple gay sex partners.

The real law that apply here is the so-called federal crack house bill that makes it illegal for the owner of a property to knowingly permit his property to be used for the purpose of taking illegal drugs. It was written to allow the feds to go after crackhouse owners (absentee landlords who didn't care) but apply to these cases as well as rave dance clubs. Like it or not, gay sex is not illegal and promiscuous sex is not illegal. But, drug use is. (well, having drugs and giving or receiving drugs is illegal, basically the same as making it illegal to take drugs).

[DooDahhhh]

Find out where it is! : )

[tiamat]

There are traditional Jewish and ME bathhouses. The Jewish ones are popular settings for chess-games and discussion of Scripture.

Tia

[Orbiting_Rosie's_Head]

Hopefully, one day, schools will have national gay pride monthsHopefully, one day, schools will have national gay pride months, gay studies at universities and quotas/affirmative action for government contracts and businesses.

You forgot bathouses with cubicles for the middle schools and high schools so the local gays and meet up with the students. (/sarcasm)

[tbpiper]

I've never heard of a hetero bathhouse.

I think the equivalent would be 'swingers' clubs or what ever they call them now.

[eno_]

It is VERY nasty stuff. That said, it's speed, and closely related drugs are available by prescription and have perfectly sound uses.

It is also impossible to interdict because the chemistry is fairly simple.

[AppyPappy]

Actually, an orgy is the hetero equivalent. Swingers clubs are generally just partner swapping for single encounters.

[blackdog]

Same old take on meth since the 70's, dusted off and tagged onto some goup. First it was bikers......Then it was college students.....Then it was the horror of smalltown USA.....Then it was "The poor man's coke".......Then it was the shift workers nightmare......Now it's gay men in Manhattan?

Speed freaks pile up in Darwin Carcass fashion. The problem is self solving and swift. For gawd sakes folks......."Speed Kills" was not a term referencing traffic physics. It was coined in the late 60's and just keeps getting plagerised in recycled messages like this one.

[dennisw]

Alltogether now! Let's find a cure for AIDS!

[blackdog]

Having done meth a few times in the 70's, I can verify it's nastiness and inform you that Ritalin and Adderal(prescription speed) are just as powerful.

[metacognative]

25% shorter lifespan..yet we chase smokers while giving special rights to these perverts.

[Noumenon]

It is also impossible to interdict because the chemistry is fairly simple.

So it seems. Local reporters have spoken about variations of a 'back pack' meth lab, and one so-called chemist was arrested with a meth 'lab' in the back seat of her car. Unbelievable.

[Travis McGee]

And we're supposed to care about homos dying of aids20 years after they learned how to avoid it?

[Noumenon]

"Even a small amount, about a quarter gram for $60, can propel a user through a weekend devoid of sleep, food and self-preservation."

Think of it as evolution in action.

[Little Bill]

If homosexuals want to kill themselves off, let them..

Even the Hippies of my youth knew that Speed kills, Meth is death, the survival rate in an Infantry Unit in Nan was greater than a Meth freak in the states.</p.

[CatoRenasci]

Even the Hippies of my youth knew that Speed kills, Meth is death

I resemble that.... Of course, you're right, the dangers of methamphetamines ("speed" in the common parlance) were widely known among the countercultural youth of the '60s and early '70s. Many students probably popped an 'upper' once or twice to study for an exam, but we all knew it was very dangerous stuff. One had to be most careful, as speed was a common adulterant of LSD. Still, most of us knew at least one or two kids who got strung out on speed, "speed freaks" we called them. They were skinny, hyper and thought they were on top of the world (sounds just like the bugger boy in the bathhouse) until they crashed.

[expatpat]

Many of us would like to see the gay life-style disappear, or at least recede. Apparently, the gays feel the same way, subconsciously.

[CatoRenasci]

Were it were true! Actually, they want to be able to recruit from among young teens confused about their sexuality and lured by a 'glamorous' life style, just as pimps like to recruit from young girls running away from bad home situations (at least in their minds) and looking for love.

[expatpat]

. . . .they want to be able to recruit from among young teens confused about their sexuality. . .

No argument, there. I was referring to their lifestyle choices, but you are right -- they want to develop as many potential 'partners' as possible.

[highlander_UW]

Dr. Howard Grossman, one of the city's best-known AIDS specialists, said more than half the men who test positive in his private practice blamed methamphetamine. "This drug is destroying our community," he said. "It just seems to be getting worse and worse, and no one is doing anything about it."

It's their homosexuality that is "destroying their community"...the drugs are just a way to mask the pain.