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DRUG USE COMMON IN YOUNG MEN WITH MALE SEX PARTNERS
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BY BECKY HAM, SCIENCE WRITER
HEALTH BEHAVIOR NEWS SERVICE
Two-thirds of young men who have sex with men say that they have used illegal drugs in the past six months, according to a recent survey conducted in seven urban areas
One-third of the 3,492 men interviewed said that they used drugs weekly or more often, with marijuana the most common drug of choice. Only 4 percent of the men said that they had injected a drug in the past six months, according to the study in the November issue of the American Journal of Public Health.
“The high prevalence of drug use among the young men who have sex with men in our study is disturbing… since illicit drug use has been repeatedly associated with high-risk sexual behaviors and increased HIV incidence among men who have sex with men,” says Hanne Thiede, D.V.M., M.P.H., of Public Health-Seattle and King County and colleagues.
Despite the “serious health and social consequences” of drug use among this population, Thiede and colleagues’ study is the first to calculate the prevalence of drug use among urban young men with male sex partners.
Thiede and colleagues interviewed men ages 15 to 22 in Baltimore, Dallas, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, the San Francisco area and Seattle between 1994 and 1998.
The men were asked how often they used drugs, which drugs they used and if they ever injected drugs — factors that have been linked to health risks.
The researchers found that men who identified themselves as either bisexual or heterosexual were more likely than men who identified themselves as gay to report risky drug behaviors like taking multiple drugs, taking drugs more frequently and injecting drugs.
White men, men who said that they had experienced forced sex and men who said they had run away from home were also more likely to use drugs in these ways, according to Thiede and colleagues.
Thiede says the findings emphasize the need for drug treatment and prevention programs that address the special needs of young men who have sex with men and others like them.
“It is likely that other young people who are dealing with sexual identity and disclosure issues, such as transgender and lesbian youth, are at similar risk for more problematic drug use,” Thiede says.
The study was supported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
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FOR MORE INFORMATION
Health Behavior News Service: (202) 387-2829 or www.hbns.org.
American Journal of Public Health: (202) 777-2511 or www.ajph.org.
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