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NATIONAL METHAMPHETAMINE TRAINING & TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE CENTER
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Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender
New York prevention program shows promise
In 2004, a group of New York AIDS activists decided to “out” meth
as one of the gay community’s favorite party drugs with an ad
campaign.
The series of provocative ads ran on several bus stops and phone
kiosks in predominantly gay neighborhoods over the course of four
years.
“These were definitely community based design, but they were
government funded,” said Peter Staley, co-founder of New York
City’s Crystal Meth Working Group. “We did advocacy work back
in 2004, pressuring New York City and the health department to
appropriate funds for meth prevention. It took a real splashy media
effort to kind of shame them into doing that.”
Once they obtained funding for the project, organizers stayed
involved with the process.
“We told them right away, ‘You shouldn’t be designing these. If
gay men think government bureaucrats are trying to tell them not
to do drugs, they’re not going to listen,’” Staley said. “If it’s
perceived as gay men delivering messages to gay men and more of a community response then it will have a far more greater likelihood of having an impact.”
The posters were designed to help start a conversation about the dangers of meth, and promote safer sex practices. The audience was gay men who hadn’t tried meth yet.
Staley believes the campaign was successful.
In 2008, 6% of gay men in New York City reported using meth during the previous 12 months, compared to 14% reported in the CDC’s National HIV Behavioral Surveillance in 2003. A similar drop was seen in San Francisco, which ran many of the same meth prevention campaigns designed for New York City, according to Staley.
“They were the numbers I was hoping for,” Staley said. “I was definitely hoping it showed a fall, and it showed a substantial fall.”
Staley said it’s hard to say how much of an impact his group’s anti-meth ads had on the latest numbers, especially since there are numerous other prevention campaigns designed for the general public.
But he said it’s clear that community-based grassroots organizations can make a difference, and that prevention works in the battle against meth.
“I do know that when meth becomes very entrenched in a community, if there’s no prevention at all it just stays entrenched,” he said. “I think meth can take hold and not let go in a community until there’s some kind of push back.”
Read more about the ad campaign and findings from the CDC’s meth survey at Staley’s blog: http://blogs.poz.com/peter/archives/2010/01/studies_show_huge_dr.html
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New York program poster
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