I was reading one of my favorite queer health blogs, www.lifelube.org, and saw a link to a recent article in the Seattle Times and my heart skipped a beat. The link was to an article about a young man named Jordan (pictured here) who lives in Seattle. Jordan is actually dear friend of mine---and an HIV+ crystal meth survivor. I have known Jordan for almost 2 years, first meeting him at the 2008 National Gay Men's Health Summit that was held in Seattle. He now works for a great queer health organization in Seattle, Gay City, and I most recently spent a March weekend with him and a group of other amazing queer men's health thinkers at a retreat on a mountain near San Francisco.
To say that Jordan is incredible would be a gross understatement. The strength and honesty with which he lives his daily life, talks about his struggles and how he has overcome them is nothing short of awe-inspiring. Jordan's story highlights very clearly the many ways in which our health as a queer community has been challenged----and yet, more importantly, his story also highlights what's most important to us here at everybodysgood....the fact that we can and do have within ourselves the ability to keep ourselves and each other healthy.
I hope you'll take a moment to read Jordan's story here and that you will be as inspired by him as I am.
(And, Jordan, if you're reading this---I love you and am grateful for the way you have learned to lead by example and bring queer men to better and healthier lives.)
There are worse things then meth in the world . What do you think about this article ? I am an African homosexual .
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Millions of South Africans with HIV face a new worry -- being robbed of life-prolonging medicine by drug gangs who use it to lace a highly addictive marijuana cocktail known to its smokers as "whoonga."
As the government responsible for the world's biggest population of HIV-infected people -- nearly 6 million -- prepares to make antiretroviral (ARV) drugs more widely available, authorities are trying to stamp out the illegal trade, tighten security for ARV supplies and make patients aware of the risks of theft.
Whoonga mixtures can include rat poison and other cheap substances that smokers think enhance the high from marijuana. Police say lacing it with powdered tablets of the antiretroviral efavirenz, or Stocrin, has little real effect. But street users believe the HIV drug boosts whoonga's hallucinogenic properties.
"It is a relatively new drug that began to surface a few months ago and fortunately for now, is confined to a few areas," Vish Naidoo, spokesman for the national police agency, said of the ARV-laced doses of whoonga selling for $2 or $3 a hit.
Its use has so far been limited, encouraging police to believe they can nip the problem in the bud. But in townships in the eastern KwaZulu-Natal province, some HIV patients receiving the medication have been mugged and clinics robbed.
"I see the youngsters who are affected, people as young as 13, 14 and 15," said Ntombizonke Ndlovu, a local official with the Treatment Action Campaign, an HIV/AIDS advocacy group.
"They are getting mixed up in this whoonga thing. Crime is growing like crazy."
Victims have mostly stayed silent, fearing if they report thefts to police, they would be exposed as infected with HIV. It remains a stigma for many in a country where the U.N. says 5.7 million people in a population of 49 million are sufferers.
Local media have been filled with breathless reports, saying it takes just two puffs to be hooked and the whoonga craze has sparked a new level of lawlessness in the crime-ridden country.