Liverpool youngsters taking cocaine to enhance sexual pleasure

May 12 2008 by Liza Williams, Liverpool Daily Post

Liverpool youngster taking cocaine to enhance sexual pleasure

HALF of young people in Liverpool have taken cocaine, according to a study by John Moores University.

The report by the Centre for Public Health at the university claims teenagers and young people are deliberately getting high on drink and drugs to enhance their sexual pleasure, and that there is an “epidemic” of recreational drug use and binge drinking.

The poll was carried out among 1,341 youngsters in nine European cities.

A third of men aged 16 to 35 and a quarter of females surveyed for the study said they drank alcohol to increase their chances of getting sex.

Some also intentionally take cocaine, ecstasy and cannabis to enhance sexual arousal or prolong sex.

Liverpool had the highest proportion of people admitting to taking cocaine at 50%.

Prof Mark Bellis who carried out the research said: “Trends in recent decades have resulted in recreational drug use and binge drinking becoming routine features of European nightlife.

“Millions of young Europeans 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.”

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

“Tackling substances with both physiological and psychological links to sex requires approaching substance use and sexual behaviour in the same way that individuals experience them, as part of the same social process.”