Positive Living Society of British Columbia (Formally BCPWA)

On the Cover: LIVING POSITIVE. A Preview of our New Manual for People Living With HIV and AIDS. 4 EDITORIAL Fight for your Right to Light. BCPWA's Chair speaks his mind on the medical use of marijuana. 5 NEWSREEL We take a look at the lastest health, social, and political issues for PWAs at home and around the world, including: Theatre Postive performance is a hit, changes to the Complementary Health Fund, Lunch Club closes, Ritonavir & Ecstasy kills, YouthCo launches spicy zine, and much more. CHF Waiting List Abolished and Rates Adjusted: Benefits are Tied to Proceeds of AIDS Walk. Lunch Club Closes. PWA on Ritonavir Dies After Taking Ecstasy. YouthCO Launches Spicy 'Zine'. BCPWA AGM Highlights Growth and Achievements. BC Centre for Excellence Therapeutic Guidelines Online. New Antiretroviral Therapy Guide is Online. 7 TREATMENT UPDATE Tea Tree Oil Shows Promise Against Oral Fungal Infections. Doctors in the US have reported results from a small study of tea-tree oil "oral solution." Vits Help the Rits Go Down. Vitamins may help you tolerate ritonavir better. Patients' Immune Cells Armed for HIV. Strateguyu is aimed at maintaining and amplifying the T cell response. 9 NON-FICTION. Spirituality Brings Peace and Strength to Native PWA in Prison. Regaining lost spirituality brings inner peace to a native man who struggled with HIV and incarceration. 10 ADVOCACY UPDATE The Schedule C Advisory Group Gets Focused. 11 LIVING POSITIVE: AN EXCLUSIVE PREVIEW. BCPWA's venerable old positive living manual gets more than a face lift. It gets a new name, a dynamic new concept and a complete rewrite. BCPWA News is pleased to present an exclusive preview of the first two parts of Living Positive. 14 SHARING OUR SKILLS. BCPWA needs your help, and you can gain valuable experience. 15 KVIK RECIPES BY KASANDRA Kasandra does the bars, and cheesecake is the result... Cheesecake Bars. 16 POSITIVELY HAPPENING Your guide to just about everything -- support groups, medical clinics, help lines, free services, and much more! 22 LAST BLAST. Pushing Buttons! Pick a button, any button... New saying we'd like to see.

On the cover: BLIND JUSTICE Lady Justice may be blind, but she's listening intently in our bedrooms. 4 EDITORIAL. LIVING ON THE STREET. Bud Osbourne ruminates about life on the street for those addicted in the downtown eastside. 5 NEWSREEL We take a look at the latest health, social and political issues for PWAs at home and around the world, including an award for one of NEW's own, the Manns are killed in the Swiss Air crash, and Clinical Heroin Trials offer much more than "free drugs." Provincial Framework for Action on AIDS Announced. Clinical Heroin Trials Offer Much More than "Free Drugs." Tribute to Jonathan Mann and Mary-Lou Clements-Mann. Roche Pharmaceuticals Dumps Substandard AIDS Therapy on Africa. A Prize Winning Journalist in our Midst! 7 TREATMENT UPDATE. UNDERSTANDING YOUR BLOOD WORK. TAOIST TAI CHI AND HIV/AIDS. All you wanted to know about CD4 cells and information on Taoist Tai Chi and HIV/AIDS. CD4+ absolute cell count versus CD4+ percent. 9 NON-FICTION Clyde Richardson's last installment "Salivation Salivation". 10 ADVOCACY NEWS. ICBC DISABILITY DISCOUNT AND FUEL TAX REBATE IS AVAILABLE. Tips for car owners -- a discount on your insurance and a rebate on your gas purchases. 11 BLIND JUSTICE Lady justice may be blind but she's listening in our bedrooms. The Supreme Court of Canada makes a decision in a case involving a Squamish man who knowingly transmitted the HIV virus. Transmission without prior disclosure is declared a criminal act. 14 SHARING OUR SKILLS. BCPWA needs your help, and you can gain valuable experience. 15 KVIK RECIPES BY KASANDRA Noodles and other things nice. Oriental Noodle Salad. 15 ARE YOU THINKING ABOUT WORKING OR SCHOOL? Information on BCPWA's work in vocational rehabilitation and a two day session to talk about work-related issues. 16 POSITIVELY HAPPENING Your guide to just about everything - support groups, medical clinics, help lines, free services, and much more! 22 LAST BLAST. Five Easy Steps to a Healthy HAART. Spending time at St. Paul's hospital - keeping your deities straight will maintain your HAART.

On the cover: THE ART OF ACTIVISM Building AIDS awareness on canvas 4 EDITORIAL Doug McKay introduces BCPWA News' new look and tears a strip off the government's agenday 5 NEWSREEL We look at the latest heath, social and political issues for PWAs at home and around the world, including new drug treatments, a pregnancy study, and concern about an STD outbreak in BC. AIDS Drug Review Victory. Health Care Strike May Affect BCPWA. Peer Counsellors Graduate from BCPWA Training. HIV, Hepatitis C Spreading Through Prisons. Plasma-Washing Technique Approved. Leaders Worried by the Spread of AIDS. Many HIV-Positive Children Will Survive to Adolescence. Voluntary HIV Tests Preferable in Pregnancy. Syphilis Outbreak Hits BC. HIV/AIDS in the Elderly on the Rise. Failure of Cytarabine in Progressive Multifocal Leukoencephalopathy Associated with HIV Infection. 7 TREATMENT UPDATE A warning about a popular painkiller, and good news about exercise. THE TROUBLE WITH TYLENOL The popular pain reliever appears to cause more immune system damage to peopel with HIV/AIDS. PRIOR WASTING LINKED TO INCREASES IN VIRAL LOAD, EXERCISE IS NOT. A team of researchers in California has reported evidence of a direct link between prior weight loss and recent HIV levels in patients with AIDS-related wasting. High-intensity exercise deemed safe. 9 NON-FICTION. HOW CAN THIS BE? Clyde Richardson considers the perplexing state of life and friendship with HIV. "Fear is what you turn it into." 10 ADVOCACY NEWS Financial help may be available if you need to move. Ministry may help finance the high cost of moving. 11 THE ART OF ACTIVISM How a young artist and a seasoned activist collaborated on some powerful paintings that help raise awareness about HIV and AIDS. In a remote British Columbia town, AIDS Activist Richard Hollingsworth teamed up with Jeff Fletcher, a brilliant young artist, to create an art awareness project. Using Hollingsworth's HIV+ blood in the paint, Flecter created a sensation with his fantastical art which is now attracting international attention. 14 SHARING OUR SKILLS BCPWA needs your help, and you can gain valuable experience 15 KVIK RECIPES BY KASANDRA Jumbo Oatmeal Date Sandwich Cookies 16 POSITIVELY HAPPENING Your guide to just about everything -- support groups, medical clinics, help lines, free services, and much more! 22 LAST BLAST. IMPOSSIBLE DREAM The protease side effect no one's talking about. Ruben Acosta discovers some little-known treatment side effects and loses his fashion sense.

2 TO ALL CHRISTMAS ANGELS. Thanks for supporing our annual Christmas appeal. 4 WHAT'S LAC GOT TO DO WITH IT? L-acetyl carnitine is depleted by several antiretrovirals. The PWA Health Group will be carrying a quality-controlled brand of LAC. 5 MEMO TO: ALL HEALTH CARE WORKERS FROM: HEALTH CANADA HEALTH PROTECTION BRANCH RE: PROTEASE INHIBITORS AND HEMOPHILIA There have been approximately 16 cases of spontaneous bleeding episodes in HIV+ patients with hemophilia who were being treated with protease inhibitors. Health Protection Branch recommends continuing therapy but health care providers should monitor these patients. 6 NEW DRUG METHOD IN RUSSIA MAY BE BEHIND AIDS SPREAD Injection drugs that are tested for quality by the addition of blood may be behind rapid spread of HIV in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. 7 IS MEDICALERT FOR YOU? The Treatment Information Program is working appropriate wordings for MedicAlert for HIV+ persons. 8 ADVOCACY UPDATE: DENTAL SERVICES AND ENTITLEMENT Available coverage from BC Benefits (Income Assistance) and low cost or free dental services. 9 NON FICTION: SHORT STORIES BY CLYDE RICHARDSON "On the Bus Again" "Chemo Trails" 11 STRATEGIES FOR PROTEASE INHIBITOR FAILURE Possible approaches: Changing protease inhibitors, not very likely to be effective after drug failure. Combining protease inhibitors, not as easy as originally thought. Combining therapies for synergy, some anecdotal claims of success. Experimental approaches. 15 TREATMENT UPDATE The BCPWA Treatment Information Program -- a Profile. AIDS & Aging. Choices of Bodywork Therapies Threatened. 18 IS THE COCKTAIL PARTY OVER? People with AIDS were told a cocktail of drugs would keep them alive for many years. But hope is fleeting for an increasing number who are growing "tails" and breasts and seeing their viral loads skyrocket. 22 FEAR Poetry 23 CARROT MUFFINS Recipe POSITIVELY HAPPENING. Centre pull-out section. Calling the Pacfic AIDS Resource Centre, More Place to Call, Vancouver Services, Classified, Volunteer Opportunities, Vancouver Weekly, BC Groups & Programs