ACTIVE TEENS TEND TO USE DRUGS LESS

Study Finds They Do Drink More

Teens who exercise and play team sports are less likely to be smokers
or use marijuana and other drugs than their peers, but they do drink
more alcohol, a study said.

While the findings, published in Addiction, don't prove cause and
effect, they could have important implications for preventing drug and
alcohol abuse in young adults, the study's authors said.

"If we can encourage an enjoyment in general exercise, we may be able
to see a lowering of participation in drug use," said Yvonne
Terry-McElrath, at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor and one of
the authors.

She warned, though, that the links found in the study "were not
staggeringly huge" and added that encouraging exercise was certainly
"not a cure for anything."

Terry-McElrath and her colleagues used data from a study sponsored by
the National Institute on Drug Abuse that followed high school seniors
through young adulthood with regular surveys that asked about recent
use of alcohol, cigarettes and drugs, as well as participation in
athletics and exercise.

The report included data on close to 12,000 students, about half of
whom filled out follow-up surveys until they were 25 or 26 years old.