Drug-abuse is not an issue that is new to the GLBT community. While the proliferation of anti-drug campaigns now seems to numb rather than inform, Terry Oldes' novel, Dancing with Tina provides a hauntingly real auto-biography about crystal-meth abuse.

The book is an honest memoir of crystal meth abuse within the gay community. The reader is invited to experience first hand the ecstatic highs and pitiful lows of drug-use – each blissful moment and tragic consequence is experienced alongside Olde.
Crystal meth looks and acts like a neurotransmitter and when the nerve cells absorb meth, the natural neurotransmitters are pushed out into the bloodstream.

“Meth releases 600 times the normal amount of dopamine, norepinephrine and serotonin into your body – chemicals that make you feel happy – so you really do feel like you're on top of the world and can do anything,” Olde says.

Meth also forces your hunger, thirst and sleep mechanisms to shut down so a person can stay up for days at a time, which will eventually take its toll.

“I forced myself to drink liquids because I was told by people I had to, but the natural thirst was not there and neither was any appetite,” he says. “I lost 20 pounds in about a month and a half. They call it the "Tina" diet and it works.”

Crystal-meth also has a major impact on libido.
"It could probably make a complete prude into a sex-starved aggressor,” says Olde. “It's not uncommon for a heavy meth user to have five or six individual hook-ups in one day, and we won't even talk about the numbers if one goes to a bath-house."

But as with all drugs, what goes up, must come down and the result with crystal-meth is overwhelming depression often leading to suicidal thoughts.
“(That’s) one of the worst things, in my opinion, about Meth."

Dancing with Tina highlights the increased risk of catching HIV when on the drug. Olde explains that meth takes away that boundary of sense most people have and that unprotected sex is the norm in the PnP world. The drug, he says, appealed strongly to the gay community because of this "letting go element.”

“Even though we live in a wonderfully liberating age now, we still aren't free to hold hands everywhere in the world and many people still have their own inner self-esteem issues to deal with," says Olde.

For further information on the novel visit www.dancingwithtina.com

Dancing with Tina is available from Hares and Hyenas bookshop, 63 Johnston St. Fitzroy.

Sydney Star Observer
www.ssonet.com.au

By ANDRE RANGIAH