Drug Policy

When historical villains die, at least if they are white, male Americans, Conventional Wisdom and Miss Manners say one should simply move on neutrally, "not speaking ill of the dead." Or something.

I strongly disagree. Whereas I philosophically agree that there is no such thing as a totally evil person without contradictions, it is quite appropriate to draw a balance sheet on public figures who have greatly and directly impacted our lives ... in this case for ill.

Helms was such a voluble and prolific person, Rush-Limbaugh-cum-Senator-Claghorn, and his ascendance so felicitously intersected the rightward moving Zeitgeist, that his legacy of harm extends far and wide – from making overt racism politically acceptable in modernized ways, to eliminating civil liberties and the right to organize as workers, to restricting women's reproductive freedom domestically and around the world, to banning public support for art with any erotic or sexual content, to extending the HIV epidemic by forbidding any federal funds to be used on any materials that frankly portray and discuss sex and drug use.  read more »

Want the good news or bad news first?

I'll give you the bad news.

Sex columnist Dan Savage whose syndicated column Savage Love is read weekly by millions in alternative weeklies around the country, wrote a blog entry for the Seattle news site The Stranger about the NYT story on rising HIV infections among young MSMs. His blog post was his usual snarky self, but horribly misinformed. He writes:

" so long as gay health educators refuse to level with gay men--there's no "moderating" your meth use; you can suck too much cock; anal sex isn't a first-date activity and having anal sex with hordes of anonymous partners, even with condoms, is sure-fire way of contracting HIV--these new campaigns won't have much of an impact. And so we'll be reading this story again in a couple of years, yet another story about HIV infection that makes tragic heroes of guys like Javier Arriola and goes on to suggest that straight talk about HIV infection is part of the problem, not part of the solution."  read more »

In what seems like a space-filler on a slow news day, the New York Times reported yesterday that HIV rates among gay men under the age of 30 are on the rise.

Why do I say it must have been a slow news day? This data was issued in a press release by the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene on September 11, 2007. The NYT story, which was the front page of yesterday's Metro section, appeared nearly three months later. In any case, here's the main info from the Times:

"The number of new H.I.V. infections in men under 30 who have sex with men has increased sharply in New York City in the last five years, particularly among blacks and Hispanics, even as AIDS deaths and overall H.I.V. infection rates in the city have steadily declined.

New figures from the city’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene show that the annual number of new infections among black and Hispanic men who have sex with men rose 34 percent between 2001 and 2006, and rose for all men under 30 who have sex with men by 32 percent."  read more »

Showing the “missing pieces” of HIV prevention puzzle in the United States, more than three hundred people poured into the downtown Atlanta streets for the PJM Unity Rally and March in Atlanta, GA, on Tuesday, December 4th, where the National HIV Prevention Conference (NHPC) ended on Wednesday. People from across different communities marched to demonstrate unity for a comprehensive HIV prevention in the US, not to be divided by community or issue.

In order to draw conference attendees from the hotel to the opening rally two blocks away at Hardy Ivy Park, a group of carolers sang an HIV prevention song to the tune of “The 12 Days of Christmas.” Other PJM folks were in the lobby, decorating marchers with the PJM sash—a white satin cloth with the red PJM Unity logo. Helping to sash people in the hotel was Miss Rhode Island 2007 Ashley Bickford, who was attending the conference as someone interested in HIV/AIDS issues.

The spirited marchers burst from the Hyatt onto Peachtree Street, blowing whistles and chanting, and made their way to Hardy Ivy Park to meet the crowd already assembled. The March MC Waheedah Shabbazz-el took the bullhorn and hyped the crowd to a frenzy, reminding the crowd, “HIV is more than a disease, It’s positive proof of injustice!” The marchers grabbed signs and flashlights from organizers and marshals, and the rally was in full swing.  read more »

A sharper approach to fighting AIDS
In today's Atlanta Journal Constitution!

By Sandra Thurman

Twenty years ago, as executive director of AID Atlanta, I would arrive at the office at the crack of dawn to find a cast of homeless intravenous drug users waiting at our door. Their faces and the countless more living with HIV I've met since still haunt my dreams. I often wonder if a clean needle could have saved their lives.  read more »