QUEER TEENS MORE LIKELY TO USE CRYSTAL: STUDY

School-Based Prevention Campaigns Ineffective

A recent study of British Columbia teens says gay, lesbian and
bisexual students, especially girls, are 17 times more likely to use
crystal methamphetamine and other club drugs.

The study, released in the February issue of the BC Medical Journal,
is one of the first such research projects to include questions about
sexual identity and about the use of specific drugs like ecstacy,
ketamine, GHB and meth.

The study showed that few high school students had used any of the
drugs. Of 607 students polled, only 81, or about 14 percent, reported
previous use. Only five percent had ever used meth, and only five
individual students had used meth during the previous month.

Thomas Lampinen, a clinical assistant professor of epidemiology at
the University Of Bristish Columbia and one of the three researchers
on the study, says the study shows queer kids are more likely to try
club drugs.

"If you want to target substance abuse issues in kids, you target gay
kids. The data says gay kids are at increased risk."

Lampinen says the there was a lack of research around sexual identity
and teen drug use, and other studies had not looked closely at club drugs.

"The literature linking sexual orientation and coming out to drug
use, it's really sparse. We're certainly talking less than two dozen
studies. And even less on club drug use among gay kids."

The study, which Lampinen calls a "quick and dirty" pilot project,
gave confidential questionnaires to 607 high school students in
Vancouver and Victoria in 2003. Of those, 2.5 percent, or 15
students, identified themselves as gay, lesbian or bisexual -- most
of them bisexual girls. Lampinen says those figures are mostly likely
low, due to sexual uncertainty or a reluctance among teens to admit
to not being straight.

"I don't think any of us really believe there were only two [gay or
bisexual] boys."

The conclusion calls for further research into elevated risk of
substance abuse among bisexual girls and women.

"It remains unclear whether these elevated risks reflect early
contact with social networks with higher prevalence of substance use
or predisposition to substance use owing to problems with early
self-identification as gay or bi-sexual," states the study.

The study suggests caution about a BC government strategy announced
last September that will spend $3 million this year on an anti-meth
public awareness campaign, including $1 million on school-based
initiatives. Schools might not be the ideal venue, says the study,
citing a 2004 western Canada summit on meth use.

"While some strategies can effectively reduce drug use among
adolescents, it is well established that most school-based drug use
prevention programs, including fear-based campaigns, are ineffective
and poorly implemented," reported the summit.

Lampinen says that his study agrees that targeting meth use alone may
not be effective. He says of those students reporting meth use, every
user but one also used at least alcohol and marijuana.

"There's no such thing as just a crystal meth user. They're using other drugs."

Lampinen also says the study suggests that many teen meth users may
have dropped out of high school.

"Our survey results show that less than one percent reported using
crystal meth during the previous month. Schools don't seem to be
places where you encounter regular users of meth."

But he says that the campaign in schools may serve to keep some
students from starting to use meth.

The study results are published in the current issue of the BC
Medical Journal, available at: www.bcma.org