Pubdate: Tue, 8 Nov 2005 Source: San Francisco Chronicle (CA) Page: B - 3 Contact: 2005 Hearst Communications Inc. Website: http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/388 Author: Wyatt Buchanan, Chronicle Staff Writer Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/rehab.htm (Treatment) METH TASK FORCE PLANS TO FOCUS ON TREATMENT IN PROPOSAL TO MAYOR Group Also Pushes Prevention, Policing in Range of Solutions San Francisco's new Crystal Methamphetamine Task Force plans to tell the mayor Wednesday how the city should tackle the highly destructive drug, which is more prevalent in the gay community than the city as a whole. The biggest need, according to a draft of the task force's recommendations, is for more rehabilitation and treatment options in San Francisco and more space for 12-step and similar counseling. The 75 task force members, who represent an array of service programs and city departments, will propose expanding existing prevention, treatment and law enforcement programs. Their draft recommendations did not set targets for service. The task force plans this week to discuss goals for San Francisco's meth interdiction and treatment efforts and to address broadening those efforts to include more women, transgender people, teenagers and young adults. Michael Siever, who heads the Stonewall Project outpatient meth recovery program at UCSF, said the waiting list for his 70-patient program can stretch to six months, though currently there is no wait. New Leaf counseling center, an outpatient program on Hayes Street in San Francisco that treats 1,600 people annually -- mainly gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender clients -- for a variety of substance abuse and mental health problems, turns away about 400 a year, said Joseph Neisen, executive director. San Francisco police narcotics unit head Capt. Tim Hettrich, a task force member, said gay men are responsible for the bulk of meth use in San Francisco, and police efforts to combat meth have focused on gays. Four narcotics officers working to get meth off the street spend most of their time in the Castro, South of Market and Tenderloin neighborhoods focusing on bars and clubs, he said. No statistics were available on trends in meth use in San Francisco, police and task force leaders said. Police officials said in response to a public records request that their computer cannot differentiate among arrests for possession, use and distribution of methamphetamine compared with other narcotics. Steven Tierney -- co-leader of the meth task force with Supervisor Bevan Dufty and recently named deputy director for programs and services for S.F. AIDS Foundation -- said the impetus for the task force was the connection between meth use and new HIV infections. Dr. Grant Colfax, HIV prevention director for San Francisco's Public Health Department, is the lead author of a national study conducted from 1999 to 2001 that found gay men who used crystal meth doubled their risk of contracting HIV, even when other risk factors including sexual practices were taken into account. But new HIV infections appear to be declining in San Francisco, according to the National Survey of Drug Use and Health, an annual study by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that was released in July. The survey found new infections among San Francisco gay men occurring at about half the rate of the 1,048 per year estimated by the city. City health officials expect to recalculate their estimate of new HIV infections within months. Nearly a quarter of San Francisco's gays are HIV-positive, according to the city health department. Data released last week also show meth use falling among gay men in San Francisco. About 20 percent of gay men in the city reported recent use of methamphetamine in several studies. But in the most recent study, released last week by the Stop AIDS Project, 10 percent of gay men reported using meth in the last six months. Several researchers said that figure needed verification. Only two-tenths of 1 percent of the general population reported recent use of meth in 2004, according to the CDC study. Dufty and public health leaders say substance abuse in general is a bigger issue among lesbians and gay men than meth. "Crystal is not the only iceberg in the water," Dufty said. Few recent studies appear to have directly compared substance abuse among gays and the population as a whole, but the available data show far higher substance abuse rates among gays and lesbians than the general population. In Colfax's national study, 15 percent of gay men reported using marijuana at least once a week, 90 percent said they drank, and 11 percent called themselves heavy drinkers. And preliminary findings from the Chicago Health Experiences and Life Experiences of Women study show that three-quarters of lesbians are drinkers. By comparison, the CDC survey of the general population showed 6.1 percent of people reported recent marijuana use, half said they drank, and 6.9 percent were heavy drinkers. When it comes to cigarette smoking, a state health department survey published in September found 15.4 percent of Californians smoke, compared with 30.4 percent of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. The meth task force would better serve everyone by looking deeper into substance abuse, said Susan Kingston, a Seattle public health consultant. "You can't really pick one drug and say that's the bad one while Miller Lite rainbow flags are flopping wildly over the pride parade," Kingston said. "I do think we have blind spots to alcohol in our community that we don't want to deal with because we like it." Many of the people who are referred to New Leaf for substance abuse treatment are addicted to more than one substance, Neisen said. He traces substance abuse among lesbians and gay men in part to feelings of disconnection and discrimination. "A lot of gay and lesbian people think, 'How could I have leftover emotional pain from prejudice when I live in Gay Mecca?' " he said. Dufty said he hopes San Francisco keeps its status as a model in addressing the needs of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community. "Ultimately, I don't want to turn around in two years and see that alcohol has not been addressed," Dufty said. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake