Michael Brandon knows that ad campaign well - he was its spokesman. Enchantment with the drug was replaced with revulsion, and the state of California and San Francisco's Department of Health began funding public awareness campaigns such as “Hot Sex Without Crystal? Hell Yes!” Early this decade, it finally became clear that meth was highly addictive and could suck away years of people's lives, devastating minds and bodies. For many, it held the promise of hot, long-lasting, intimate sex plenty in the gay porn industry partook of the drug in their off time. In the '90s club scene, particularly the gay club scene, crystal meth was considered glamorous, and its dangers were somewhat unknown. He seemed to be in disbelief that it had come to this. It's not something he's proud of, but he can't manage to stop yet. When this hearing was over, he expected to go directly to a motel to shoot up. Apparently he smashed it in a motel door - not surprising, considering his current lifestyle.įor most of the past year, Brandon said he had spent much of his time in motels and on the streets, injecting himself with meth and getting involved in drug deals. Their four-year anniversary, which they hadn't yet celebrated, was the day before.īrandon clasped his hands in his lap, revealing a fingernail on his left hand hanging from the nail bed by a thin fiber. It would also mean that his boyfriend, Marcos Monzon - who was on his way to the courthouse - would see him in cuffs. That would mean no more meth for a really long time. Now he was afraid somebody would recognize how messed up he was, and that police would take him into custody. He was shaking.īrandon admitted he had also been trembling earlier that morning when he tried to inject meth into his arm. He had spent more than three years in state prison, and had no interest in going back. From those days, he had two felony convictions from two separate arrests. Though Brandon had been on top of his game for the past eight years, he had spent most of the '90s in Orange County, addicted to crystal meth. The police found him and arrested him soon after he was charged with three felonies for selling meth, speed, and Ecstasy. In June, a confidential police informant had reported that Brandon was selling crystal meth while motel surfing, or moving from place to place under aliases to avoid attention. In fact, at that very moment, Michael Brandon was very much in need of someone to sit with.