Meth Thanks

Thank you for printing Shawn
Lipenski’s excellent [article]
(“Meth Addiction Not New”
OITM October, 2005) outlining
the history of amphetamine use
in the United States. It is
worth pointing out that in

. 1958, when 35 billion tablets

of legal mgethamphetamine
were produced we did not have
bathtub crystal meth. When
these drugs were produced and
distributed in legal, regulated
markets they were relatively
safe and pure. When the cur-
rent drug laws handed the mar-
ket to criminals, they began
producing the most addictive
and profitable product possi-
ble, e.g. crystal meth.
This is not to say that people

did not misuse amphetamines in
previous decades, but the dam-

age they did to themselves was
less, there were no toxic home
made labs, and users did not
need to steal from their neigh-
bors to pay black market prices.
This is the basis of the harm
reduction principle.’

David Lane
Santa Cruz, CA

Marriage Light

I’m glad to see you keeping a
light on the Cote-Whitacre case
with your recent article

(“Exclusion Appeal in Mass.
High Court,” OITM November,

2005 ). Bobbi and Sandi are real ‘

treasures. I did want to let you
know, however, that some of the
legal information in the piece
was inaccurate.

Although the article says that
the law had been applied in 1936

. out the mountains

and 1973, that’s not the case. As
far as we know, until same—sex

_ couples became eligible to marry

in May 2004, the law had never
been applied to stop couples
from other states from marrying
in Massachusetts. There have
been two legal opinions from the
Attorney General that tangential-
ly referenced the law — one in 36
and the other in 73 — but those V

opinions do not demonstrate that

the law had been applied before.
If fact, those opinions do not
even support the Attorney
General’s present interpretation
of the law. This matters because
one of our arguments is that the
government is using this law_as
a weapon against same—sex
couples.

Michele Granda
GLAD Staff Attorney

Thanks for the clarification. The
erroneous statement was in a
summary of the couple's memory

of the Attorney General is presen-

tation, and it should have been
checked. — Ed.

Unity Funds Hep-C
Support

Twin States Network, a peer
support organization serving
people with HIV and with

» Hepatitis C in Vermont and New
Hampshire is pleased to
announce that it has received
funding from the Vermont Unity
Foundation to provide peer sup-
port services to Lesbians and Bi-
sexual Vermont women living
with Hepatitis C. Our grant was
omitted from your report on the

Unity Fund awards (“Final Unity
Grant Update,” OITM November

2005).

 

At Witt’s End

 

Leah A Wiltenberg

Mercury in Tuna, Mad Cow

Disease,’ Genetically Engineered
Cor-n...Nex’r‘ Thing’You Know it'll
nd ICE. CREAM all ~

  

Be APPLE‘ PIE a

 

  

 

Not. to mention
BLT's

    
 

 

kl.1"\'EN8¢l2(: @1004-

IF VOU CAN'T EAT ‘EM, JOIN 

 

 

 

letters

Hepatitis C, frequently called
the “silent disease,” affects
approximately four million
Americans. There is currently no
vaccine for the disease, and
infected individuals often don’t
know that they are infected until
they begin to experience symp-
toms of liver failure.

Treatment for the disease is
about 50 percent effective in
eradicating the virus. The stan-
dard 28-week treatment course is
difficult and many people have
severe side effects such as
exhaustion, mental confusion,
diarrhea, severe depression.
Twin States Network’s goal in
providing support services is to
help people determine whether
or not to undergo treatment, to
establish a support network dur-
ing treatment, to have a support-
ive ear during the course of
treatment, to educate people
about risky behavior, and to
keep people connected to some-
one else who is also coping with
this disease.

Twin States Network will use

‘A the funds received to provide

phone, e—mail and face—to-face
support for lesbians and bi—sexu-
al women living with the dis-
ease, considering treatment or
undergoing treatment. Two of
Twin States Network’s peer -
leaders are lesbian/bisexual
women living with Hepatitis C.
Services are available through-
out the state.

For more information, to
enroll or to refer someone. to this
service, please call Jo
Schneiderman, Executive
Director at 888-338-8796 or e-
mail us at tsnjo@sover.net.

Jo Schneiderman
Executive Director
Twin States Network

. correction:

We had a brain cramp (or maybe
more than one) last month and
inadvertently omitted Amy
Rubin from our masthead list of
contributors for the “In
Memoriam” piece reporting on
Susan Weaver’s life and death.
We regret the omission and
thank Amy for writing the piece.