"In my brief moments of clarity I knew my life was supposed to be better than this"

"But I believe in people's ability to change."

Gay City Health's Jordan Duran (Seattle) tells his story of leaving a serious meth addiction and turning his life around. In the Seattle Times. 
  
A must read.

One major annoyance - the headline - "Meth use among young gay men remains a pervasive problem." The article goes on to say that "studies show that about one out of 10 gay or bisexual men in King County uses crystal meth in any give year"- which means that a full NINETY PERCENT of gay and bi men in King County DON'T USE METH. The stories of our brothers brought down hard by this drug are important and real - and they need and deserve our love and support - but we don't need to make this problem bigger than it is - "pervasive" in our minds implies more than one in ten. Yes, ten percent is a big deal, it's a big deal for guys like Jordan and our friends who run into serious meth trouble, but 90% of us NOT using is a BFD too. Do we ever tell THAT story? Can't tell you how many times we have to argue with folks who say things like "the majority of gay men use meth" because of headlines like this,, their less than careful reading of the statistics that show "majority" is not at all accurate, and their sort of sick desire to see gay men only as damaged beings in need of fixin'.

Anyhow.

A highlight of this post is this from Jordan's father in the comments section (which unfortunately does have a fair amount of pure idiots posting.) Here it is:

So I sit here and read this article, and I smile. I just think of how very strong this young man is and was, in the midst of a destructive time in his life, how does a person have the ability to escape the hold that a dangerous drug like meth can have on them? It does'nt matter if a kid has a "good" childhood or comes from a "good' family, drugs don't discriminate! As far as homosexuality...meth does'nt know a gay man from a heterosexual one! What I do know is this; our life was'nt the easiest, the kid's were deprived of alot of things that all their friends had, and usually took for granted. But this makes me smile because Jordan Duran is my son, and my love for him is unconditional...I don't care what other people say because I know what he's been through, and I know that he was strong enough to fight his way out as far as the drugs go. Now the only thing I worry about is that I can't see him as much as I'd like to, but only because I live far away! So keep on educating people and telling your story son, You know I'm in your corner!! Love 'ya kid...Dad 

And we love you too Dad!