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World National |
In Clubs, a Potent Drug Stirs Fear of an EpidemicThe New York TimesSome know it as crystal. Others refer to it as Tina, a campy abbreviation of its other name, Christina. But among the habitués of New York's frenetic gay club scene, the extraordinarily powerful stimulant commonly known as crystal meth is earning a new nickname: the Evil One.
Once largely confined to California, the Midwest and the Southwest, where it has upended the lives of gay men and a blue- collar constituency of truckers, bikers and housewives, methamphetamine is increasingly becoming a conspicuous part of New York's clubbing landscape and a major worry for health care workers. In New York, the drug, which gives its users a seductive rush of power, confidence and energy that can last for days, is still mostly confined to gay men. But law enforcement officials and drug abuse counselors fear that it could follow in the footsteps of Ecstasy and cocaine, widely used party drugs that gained cachet among gay club- hoppers but later spread well beyond their world. |
