Black girls who use marijuana engage in riskier sex, have higher STD rate

Medicine & Health / Health

Black girls who use marijuana are more likely to engage in risky sexual acts and contract a sexually transmitted disease, a new study finds.

The study, by Emory University public health researchers, is being presented at the International AIDS Conference in Mexico City. It analyzed the marijuana use and self-reported sexual behavior of 439 sexually active black females between the ages of 15 and 21.

Researchers found that black girls who used marijuana had significantly higher rates of incident STDs than non-marijuana users (32 percent compared to 23 percent). Marijuana users also had more sex partners, riskier sex partners, including a partner just released from jail, and more recent episodes of engaging in vaginal sex while their partner was under the influence.

"While adolescent African-American females remain a high-risk group for STDs, little research has examined their marijuana use, sexual behaviors and incidence of STD infection," says study co-author Ralph DiClemente, PhD, Candler professor of public health at Emory's Rollins School of Public Health.

"Although no differences in condom use were identified between marijuana users and non-users, results suggest that marijuana users are engaging in sexual acts with riskier partners and under riskier circumstances, and had higher rates of STDs," DiClemente says.

DiClemente and team recommend STD and HIV intervention programs designed for adolescent black females that promote condom use as well as emphasize the risks of drug use and STD and HIV infection.

Source: Emory University

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Posted by Decaf 08/05/08 13:22

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If a girl is choosing riskier partners under riskier circumstances, I could have predicted they would also participate in riskier recreation activities. That's a far cry from a causal relationship.

It sounds like another attempt at turning marijuana into the bane of society. What about the effects of alcohol on partner choice?

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Posted by SongDog 08/05/08 13:58

Rank: 5/5 after 4 votes

Generic headline (for use in grant application bot) as follows:
{{race}}{{sex}} who use {{intoxicant}} engage in riskier {{behaviour}}, have {{known consequence}}.
Mix and match values. Profit.

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Posted by paulo 08/05/08 18:40

Rank: 3.67/5 after 3 votes

what a load of racist bullshit.

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Posted by Glis 08/05/08 20:17

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I don't even know which part of this is more ridiculous, blaming pot smoking on a select group of people who one out of four of already have an STD, or singling out black girls for smoking pot and getting frisky when I'm pretty sure it's the same way with people of all colors.

Oddly enough people who tend to be oppressed or desire getting out of their heads every now and then live in the grey part of society.

This article is a load of 5h1t either way.

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Posted by am_Unition 08/07/08 16:24

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It sounds like another attempt at turning marijuana into the bane of society. What about the effects of alcohol on partner choice?

That's absurd... I've never known hundreds of people who get drunk and have regrettable sex.

Alcohol Tobacco = complacency. HMMMMMM...

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Posted by Corban 08/09/08 10:56

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Did they control for personality beforehand? Does the pot do it to them, or does the personality do it to them, AND predispose them to pot? Correlation is not causation.

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Posted by rubberman 08/09/08 19:04

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I know way more people who became inebriated and did something sexually stupid than people who did the same after smoking weed. However, the people who smoke weed enjoyed it more and remembered what they had done....for the most part.

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Posted by transience 08/10/08 07:38

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This is a pretty standard example of the kind of anti-cannabis propaganda that is 'released' or 'discovered' seemingly every month or so , more often in relation to mental health, where the present a newly found statistical correlation to imply a causal link, where none has been proven to exist. You could just as easily reverse the title to suggest that riskier sex leads to marijuana use, and still be making as much sense.