TEENAGERS WHO USE DRUGS ARE MORE LIKELY TO HAVE SEX

WASHINGTON (AP) - Teens who drink or take drugs are much more likely to have
sex and at a younger age, as well as have several partners than teens who
don't use alcohol or drugs, according to a study released today.

Teens who are 14 and younger and drink are twice as likely to have sex than
those who don't in the same age group. The risk is doubled for 14-year-old
teens using drugs, said the report from the Center on Addition and Substance
Abuse at Columbia University.

Older teens who drink are seven times as likely to have intercourse than
non-drinking teens, and are twice as likely to have it with four or more
partners. Drug-using older teens are five times as likely to have sex than
nonusers, and three times as likely to have it with four or more partners.

"While it's clear that teens who drink and use drugs are likelier to have
sexual intercourse at earlier ages and with many partners, it is not clear
which starts first - sexual intercourse or drinking and drug abuse," said
Joseph A. Califano Jr., president of the of the Center on Addition and
Substance Abuse at Columbia University.

The CASA findings are based on national data of more than 34,000 teen-agers.

All in all, 63 percent on teen-agers who use alcohol have had sex, compared
with 26 percent of teens who don't drink. About 72 percent of teens who use
drugs have had sex compared with 36 percent who don't use drugs.

Young people in general have more sex today than 30 years ago. In a study
from 1970, less than 5 percent of the 15-year-old girls questioned had
engaged in sex. In 1972 the number for boys the same age was 20 percent. In
1997, said the CASA analysis, 38 percent of the 15-year-old girls and 45
percent of the 15-year-old boys had had sex.