San Francisco, March 13, 2008 – The San Francisco AIDS Foundation applauds the launch of a four-month media campaign produced by the California Methamphetamine Initiative. The first advertisement featuring gay men will air on Monday, March 17th, on Cable TV stations throughout California.

Methamphetamine use contributes to as many as half of the recent HIV infections in California.

“This media campaign is a powerful new tool to reduce new HIV infections, both here in San Francisco and throughout California,” said Mark Cloutier, Chief Executive Officer for the San Francisco AIDS Foundation. “It will provoke thought and conversation among those most at risk of HIV, and enable them to make better decisions for themselves and each other.”

The campaign initially targets gay men, who are 10 to 20 percent more likely than other groups to use meth, and up to four times more likely to be infected with HIV than those who do not. Gay men comprise 90% of San Francisco’s nearly 1,000 annual HIV infections.

Directed by award-winning Joel Schumacher, this first, stark ad features a series of men speaking into web-cams and reflecting on what their meth use has cost them: “I lost my job, my man…,” says one. “I lost my common sense and got HIV,” says another. “I lost everything I care about.” “I lost myself.” The ad can be seen at the campaign’s website, www.menotmeth.org, which also features frequently asked questions about meth, testimonials of meth users, a self-assessment of meth use, and where to find help.

Subsequent advertisements in the series will be directed at women of childbearing age and youth, who are also among those hardest hit by the meth epidemic and highly vulnerable to HIV infection.

This initiative began when the San Francisco AIDS Foundation led a coalition of HIV/AIDS advocacy and service organizations, including the L.A. Gay and Lesbian Center and the California HIV Alliance, which urged Governor Schwarzenegger and the California Legislature to address the alarming relationship between methamphetamine and HIV infection. The final state budget the Governor signed in 2006 granted $10 million to the California Department of Drugs and Alcohol for this “Me, Not Meth” media campaign.

In addition to promoting the campaign, the San Francisco AIDS Foundation sponsors two community programs for gay meth users in San Francisco, the Speed Project and the Stonewall Project. Both provide health facts, emotional support, peer-counseling and a social network for their clients. The Stonewall Project maintains Tweaker.org, a national online resource for gay meth users which receives almost 2,500 visitors a day.

“This advertisement and these community programs break new ground in the fight to reduce and eventually end new HIV infections,” said Cloutier. “We hope they will become models for the rest of the nation.”