Study Warns of Sexual Health Crisis Due to Drug Use

The culture of binge drinking and drug use among young people in Europe is increasing the risk of a sexual health crisis, researchers warned today.

Young people are drinking alcohol to increase the likelihood of having sex and using drugs to enhance their sexual pleasure, the study by Liverpool John Moores University found. This behavior was linked to practicing unsafe sex.

Of the 1,341 people questioned, all aged 16 to 35, a third of men and a quarter of women said they drank alcohol to increase their chances of having sex. Some said they took cocaine, ecstasy and cannabis to enhance sexual arousal or prolong sex.

More than a quarter (26%) of cocaine users said they used it to prolong sex. Those who took cocaine regularly were more than five times more likely to have had five or more sexual partners in the last 12 months, or have used prostitutes.

The leader of the study, Mark Bellis, from the university's center for public health, said: "Millions of young Europeans now take drugs and drink in ways which alter their sexual decisions and increase their chances of unsafe sex or sex that is later regretted.

"Yet despite the negative consequences, we found many are deliberately taking these substances to achieve quite specific sexual effects."

Those who had used alcohol, cannabis, cocaine or ecstasy before the age of 16 were also more likely to have had underage sex, with the behavior of women more starkly affected.

Boys using cannabis before the age 16 were almost three times (2.91) more likely to have had underage sex than those who had not; girls were 6.4 times more likely.

Boys who drank under the age of 16 were 2.47 times more likely to have had underage sex; girls were 5.7 times more likely.

The study warned: "An epidemic of recreational drug use and binge drinking exposes millions of young Europeans to routine consumption of substances which alter their sexual decisions and increase their chances of unsafe and regretted sex.

"For many, substance use has become an integral part of their strategic approach to sex, locking them into continued use."

More than one in seven regular users of ecstasy said they had exchanged sex for drugs in the last year. Regular cocaine use was also linked to unprotected sex, paying for sex, and having had a test for sexually transmitted infections.

The survey was conducted in nine European cities: Liverpool, Vienna, Berlin, Athens, Venice, Lisbon, Ljubljana in Slovenia, Palma in Spain, and Brno in the Czech Republic.