On the safe side

School condom distribution helps prevent STDs

After years of perturbed parents and politicians frequently whining that distributing free condoms in high schools makes children more sexually active, a study from California has proven these claims wrong. According to a new study, their overprotective and unsubstantiated cries no longer hold water. Since 1992, a Los Angeles County High School has handed out free condoms to students, and the study, conducted by the RAND Corp., has delivered an encouraging message for safe-sex advocates, schools and most importantly, sexually active teenagers.

For years, the debate over condom distribution has done more harm than good, delaying the institution of a service that reduces unprotected sex, and infuriating many parents, administrators and teen activists. While citizens from Los Angeles to New York have lobbied their schools and local governments to initiate proactive distribution programs, many attempts have been squelched by angry parents' associations and right-wing groups preaching abstinence as the best way to deter unsafe sex and unwanted pregnancies. But now, for the first time, advocates of condom distribution can bank on empirical evidence to promote their cause.

The Los Angeles County high school's program provides an excellent example for what other schools should emulate in the future. The school left baskets of condoms in several classrooms with signs attached, noting that students could take condoms without asking for permission. In a school of 2,500 students, 1,800 to 2,000 condoms were taken each month - a clear indication that students are sexually active and there is a need for protection to be available. If the school had not provided the condoms with relative convenience to the students, it is frightening to consider how many times students would have had unprotected sex.

Although providing condoms to students will help curb unsafe sex in the future, condom distribution must be coupled with effective education in junior and senior high schools. Using a condom during sexual intercourse is the best way to prevent against sexually transmitted diseases such as the HIV virus. But without proper knowledge of how to use a condom, its effectiveness drops dramatically. Students should learn about sex and protecting themselves from informative sources, their schools, and not from haphazard street rumors.

If schools can successfully implement condom-distribution policies, the number of teenagers having unprotected sex, at great risk to their health and futures, will undoubtedly drop. No longer will students have to walk into a public drug store and feel too intimidated to buy a pack of condoms. Even if a few hundred condoms fall prey to water balloon-throwing youngsters, thousands of students surely will benefit from free condoms and the protection they provide.

04-16-98