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SOUTHERN VOICE • DECEMBER 29/1994 tyoa'il Sam ’'yfco.viety- • • V6 Engine, AC, AM/FM cass, pwr wind, pwr locks, cruise, pwr mirrors, 60mo./60,000mi. roadside assistance It’s s Pugmire!! 1995 ISUZU RODEO $ f9,399 + tax, tag, title Pwr wind, pwr locks, cruise, bright mirrors, bright grill, 4 wheel drive, alloy wheels, pwr mirrors, 60mo./60,000mi. roadside assistance 1994 TROOPER $ 339 per month FOR ONLY 30 SHORT MONTHS 30 mo. closed end lease with approved credit. Purchase option $14,963. Total pymnts $10,170. $1,299 down cash or trade equity, 1st pymt, $400 refundable security deposit, $41 tag, title, GA warranty rights fee due at lease inception. 15* per mile penalty over 30,000 mi. Add tax to payment only. AUTOMATIC 1994 ISUZU AMIGO Removable canvas top, rear ABS, 60mo 760,000m i., roadside asst. $ f2,999 # + tax, tag, title PUGMIRE fid m » ■ I 1865 COBB PKWY, MARIETTA 952-2261,1-800-441-6753 houseworks New & Used Furniture We & Sell THE SIGN OF RENOVATION 1055 Ponce de Leon Ave (next to plaza drugs) SawHorse 522-4542 IN YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD Drug abuse 5 s - Continued from Page 1 bar and I had to use drugs." The last semester of his senior year in college, Jason checked into a rehabilitation center and later, a 12-step program. He stopped using and felt that he had com pletely recovered. Then, he moved to Atlanta. I ask Jason to estimate the percentage of gay men who regularly use illegal sub stances in Atlanta. "I'd say 60% in the city overall, and 80% in the clubs use drugs or alcohol to excess. I moved to Atlanta, and I stopped going to the 12-step program. I fell into drug use again, and it was just as bad, if not worse. So I went back into the pro gram." Apparently, I had seen Jason out one of the last nights he had used drugs. "A lot of people go in and out of programs thinking they can use again, because it's a fucking disease is what it is," says Jason. He currently uses no substances, and I ask him if he plans to start going out to the bars again now that he is in recovery. "I pray not, man," he laughs, "because that's how it started when I got to Atlanta. I started out New Year's Eve [1993] just drinking champagne...but what happens is you just go right into it—it starts out with one thing but it comes back eventually. It never goes away." • • • I'm thinking about what Jason said about drugs and unsafe sax as I telephone my cousin Zachary Sank, a gay Atlanta psy chotherapist who deals primarily with HIV- infected people. Zachary agrees with Jason's assessment. "I think [gay men] get drunk in the attempt to make the social meeting easier, to make it more emotionally comfort able, and then they end up being sexual and they're drunk enough to [think], 'oh, well, I'll use a condom the next time." I ask Zachary if he has had HIV-infected patients who attribute their infection to the influence of drugs or alcohol. "Yes," he says, without hesitation. "Well, what do you see as the bigger risk," I ask, "do you see the unprotected sex as being more of a problem for gay people using drugs than addiction?" Zachary pauses and then responds, "It's very hard to make that comparison. What you're talk ing about is an addiction which can be re versed. When you talk about HIV or AIDS you're talking about something that is irreversible...and it almost always ulti mately leads to death. So it's hard to equate the two." Good answer to a stupid question, I re alize. A better one is this: so far I've only heard about substance abuse in relation to gay men. Does Zachary feel that drug use is evenly distributed among gay men and les bians? "I'm afraid 1 may be biased because I treat many more men than women," he says, "but try to think about how many gay women bars there are compared to gay men bars. There's a very great disparity in the numbers. So I have a feeling that women have the opportunity to meet and socialize with other women without it being in the context of an alcohol-serving situation." • • • Lesbian therapist Marilyn Hughes is less optimistic. "I'd say that in the lesbian com munity substance abuse is a prevalent prob lem. I think about 10% of the lesbian popu lation is addicted, primarily to alcohol, and then cocaine would be next," says Hughes, a recovering alcoholic and the director of Common Steps, a program for lesbian and gay substance abusers at Decatur Hospital. I mention to Hughes that I've heard a lot about Ecstasy and crystal meth usage in the gay male community. "We have not seen any Ecstasy in the lesbian population that we've treated," she says, "but we have seen crystal meth, and I think there may be a cor relation in the lesbian community between crystal meth and eating disorders. Crystal meth suppresses the appetite, and there are women who want to lose weight and they use it...and get addicted." I ask Hughes what the warning signs are for a serious drug problem. "If you can't stop using," she says, "if it becomes some thing you're preoccupied with.. .if you find yourself looking forward to using... those are real subtle clues that some people aren't aware of. You know some people will say,' I only use cocaine on the weekends, so I'm not a cocaine addict.' I differ with that. Even Continued on Page 18