Elephant : DNA, Fentanyl & Meth

I found three items of great interest in today's New York Times. The first is a front page story about the explosion of research tying human behavior (like addiction) and physical characteristics (like obesity) to genetics. It raises some interesting questions:

" 'If we find a murder mutation, are we going to be more accepting of murderers, or are we going to lock them up even more tightly?' asked Jeffrey M. Friedman, director of the Starr Center for Human Genetics at Rockefeller University. 'The more we find genes that play a role in determining all sorts of attributes, the more we're going to face these kinds of ethical issues.' "

The second article talks about the spate of ODs — fatalities have risen to 130 in Chicago and Detroit alone — due to lacing heroin with fentanyl. It, too, raises issues worth thinking about:

"Fentanyl's re-emergence has revived old fears among some experts that underworld chemists could one day learn to manipulate opiate molecules to produce superdrugs of devastating malevolence — more addictive or corrosive to society than heroin, alcohol or cocaine at their worst. Others say the wave of deaths proves that such a formula has not been perfected, since the fentanyl makers are killing off their own customers."

Finally, a full page ad across from the fentanyl-laced heroin story proclaims: GAY MEN & CRYSTAL METH, a manifesto.

"Let's face it. There's a problem, and we all need to deal with it," the body copy begins. The manifesto urges gay men to take responsibility for the health of their community by talking to other gay men about the dangers of crystal meth, showing compassion for those who are addicted ("meth is the problem, not those in its grasp"), and fighting for more money for drug treatment. There is a petition and more information at .

The gay community taught us a lot about effective advocacy with AIDs; it appears to be ahead of the curve on this issue, too:

"We know that treatment can work. Meth is highly addictive, and recovery is often difficult. While many will struggle, there is a growing army of gay men who have gotten off meth.

"And most importantly, we know that love works. Yeah, that might sound corny to some. But love is what motivated gay men to care for one another when the AIDS epidemic hit 25 years ago...."

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