Over 100 people attended The Center’s community forum on crystal meth on May 23, featuring a robust discussion about the drug and addiction by Dr. Neva Chauppette, a Los Angeles-based licensed psychologist who specializes in methamphetamine abuse.

Delores Jacobs, chief executive officer of The Center, welcomed guests and stressed that a dialogue about the crystal meth problem needs to be addressed within the GLBT community.

“Part of what’s happening nationally is people are beginning to recognize that our silence about crystal meth in our community is actually increasing the problem and devastating our community,” said Jacobs.

Chauppette delivered a comprehensive presentation about the various forms of crystal meth, how abusers ingest it, how it affects the body and brain, its duration of effect, various side effects, physical symptoms and behaviors, and health complications concerning the liver and kidney, which occur as a result of abusing the drug.

She emphasized how organizations like The Center are critical in fighting the addiction problem.

“We must start looking at allowing places like this to become the center of our community; not clubs, bars and circuit scenes,” she said. “I’m here to help us deal with the truth, as we can make sense of it, and come to terms with it,” she said.

According to data compiled by New York-based non-profit Gay Men’s Health Crisis (GMHC), crystal meth, a stimulant, increases the release of the neurotransmitter dopamine in the body, which is the chemical that sends pleasure messages to the brain and the central nervous system. The GMHC also stated people use crystal meth for a variety of reasons, including loneliness, body image, self-esteem and depression.

Typically crystal meth addiction is coupled with sex addiction, Chauppette said. Various neurotransmitters play a major role in how crystal meth affects the brain and body. An excess of norepinephrine, which increases alertness and concentration, contributes to a conditioned called “crystal dick” in slang terms, which is the inability to achieve or sustain an erection. The combination of using drugs like Viagra with crystal meth can potentially raise blood pressure to dangerously high levels, which can lead to overdose, stroke and heart trauma.

“When you put methamphetamine together with Viagra, Cialis and Levitra, and then we don’t address sex addiction, we have three major variables dancing with each other, feeding each other instead of just reducing the interaction between these three phenomena,” she said.

Too much of the neurotransmitter dopamine could cause a person to become paranoid and have irrational, bizarre thought patterns. Crystal meth abuse also causes excess amounts of the neurotransmitter serotonin to be released, which makes it difficult or impossible for a person to have an orgasm.

“The reality is that they feel as though they are about to climax at any moment, but it’s delayed, delayed, delayed and then it just becomes absent,” Chauppette said. “But the libido stays… the activity continues and the frustration mounts, which sometimes leads to some of the aggression I see among the domestic violence cases.”

Several of the clients Chauppette treats have severe sexual addiction and paranoia resulting from crystal meth use.

“They will be calling me on the cell phone to get treatment, masturbating with one hand and with a gun available on the floor because the psychoses has driven a protectiveness that they feel they might need a weapon,” she said. “The obsessive-compulsive, hyper-sexual energy that this drug produces is going to be something that’s going to continually feed the need to relentlessly masturbate even though orgasm is no longer a viable option,” she said.

Chauppette said the HIV epidemic is moving in the wrong direction, with sex addiction merged with crystal-meth addiction, and many major social outlets in the GLBT community perpetuating those addictions

“In my opinion this drug is cosigned by the circuit scene, the cruise ships and the clubs. If we’re going to get truthful about this and address this, we have to ask ourselves why are we destroying ourselves,” she said. “Why are we engaging in behavior that takes away what we’ve worked so hard to get, which is a validated life existence as a gay or lesbian person?”

This forum was presented by the San Diego LGBT Community Leadership Council, Stepping Stone, Dignity San Diego, San Diego County Public Health Services, the UCSD LGBT Resource Center, Special Delivery San Diego, Front Runners, the Greater San Diego Business Association, AVER, Jewish Family Services, San Diego LGBT Pride, the EDGE Research Project at UCSD, Family Health Centers and a host of other community organizations and leaders.