Report: Prevention curricula should address drug use and sex.(report by Columbia University's National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse on demographics of teen drug use and sex)

A report issued this month by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University (CASA) indicates that teenagers who use alcohol or illegal drugs are much more likely than nonusing teens to be having sex, and vice versa.

While those who worked on the report say they do not have the evidence to argue a causal link between teen substance use and sex, they think the two behaviors are sufficiently related to justify their being addressed together in prevention programs.

"While many sex education courses make some reference to alcohol and drugs, these programs don't often make the connection between the two," Sue Foster, CASA's vice …