‘‘A Kind of Sorting Out’’: Crystal Methamphetamine, Gay Men, and Health Promotion

Abstract

In the face of what has been referred to as a crystal methamphetamine (CMA) ‘‘epidemic’’ among gay men in North America, a number of health promotion efforts have been developed. While these efforts vary in approach, a core feature is the assumption that a user’s health depends on distinguishing accurate truths about CMA from inaccurate beliefs about CMA. Drawing on insights developed by Bruno Latour, this article unravels how this distinction plays out in the context of one expression of CMA health promotion. I suggest that CMA health promotion may be more usefully understood as form of collective work in which various players (subjects as well as objects) throw up different knowledge practices for debate rather than an effort to mark the difference between truth and belief. In doing so, I suggest that of Latour, and science studies more generally, offers an opportunity for rethinking the nature of health promotion writ large.