Tweakers: How Crystal Meth Is Ravaging Gay America

by Frank Sanello

Crystal methamphetamine is reaching epidemic levels among gay men in the US. Tweakers - crystal addicts - get a quick cheap high, an exhilarating loss of inhibition and increased stamina at the price... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1555838847
• ISBN13: 9781555838843
• Release Date: January 2005
• Publisher: Alyson Books
• Length: 248 Pages
• Weight: 0.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.4" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Must Read

This book is one of the best I've read. However, its not a good choice for the faint-hearted. Its very real and very disturbing. Many times I would read a page and then just stare at the wall to think about what I just read. This book can definitely change your life and your choices. Anyone who does drugs or cares about people who do should read this.

Tweakers Review

"Tweakers" is a good book to read for entertainment and some elementary information. I enjoyed reading it and found some of the interviews to be revealing and reassuring. It is not a textbook or even a good source of accurate scientific information. But it is a good source for emotional understanding and insight. It seems like this book was written in haste and had a deadline. There are a few errors and even some misprints. The bulk of the information is taken from personal interviews and postings from various websites. There is little indication that any follow-up or collaboration took place with various claims and statements that could be wrongly interpreted as fact. The sub-title, "How meth is ravaging gay America" is partly appropriate. The book spends some time describing some graphic gay sexual situations, and other scenarios associated with the gay sex world. Some of these are not specifically related to or exclusively linked with meth use. On the other hand, to the author's credit, the information that is just as pertinent to non-gay users is quite plentiful. A large part of the book is not gay specific. The case studies and interviews are plentiful, graphic, revealing, and very believable. But they are also filtered through a very subjective and sometimes inaccurate assessment of the prevailing popular opinions of meth culture, treatment and recovery lifestyles. I would not recommend it to someone struggling with early recovery. The stories of drug use and sex are quite graphic, detailed, and provide visuals that could become triggers very easily. I would strongly recommend it to family members or loved ones who are trying to understand what the addict is going through. Clinical workers, counselors and other professionals may or may not find this book useful. If they have experience with meth addiction, the book may not be very helpful. The author is obviously not personally acquainted with meth addiction as a user himself. I don't think that he needs to be in order to do a good job though. I'm sure that many male doctors have written excellent books on menopause and PMS, so it isn't really necessary to have "Been There." Nevertheless, there are some errors that would not have been made by an experienced meth addict in recovery. Example: Meth users don't use heated spoons to cook meth for the rig. (page 230) The book does not reference any of the meth problems that seem to be so rampant in middle America. The Los Angeles area is the primary focus. All in all, I still recommend the book highly. It's strengths lie in the depth of the emotions that meth users live with, the fear, the pain, the agony and frustration of being enslaved to a drug, a lifestyle and a culture of hopeless brutality.

An amazing/shocking subculture exposed

I found this book a revelaton of information on how highly addictive crystal meth grabs hold of users' lives. The case studies graphically substantiate the author's thesis of how damaging addiction to this drug is to users and those in their lives. Smoothly written, this is an effective presentation of the subject matter.