Oregon state agencies support sex ed conference that promotes meth use

by NW Spotlight

KOIN TV in Portland ran a rather astonishing story Tuesday night. The story was about a sex education conference held each year in Seaside, OR – the Adolescent Sexuality Conference. KOIN reported that children as young as 11 attend.

One of the more astonishing revelations in the KOIN news story was that in one of the pamphlets handed out at the conference it promotes the use of meth. Here’s an excerpt on the discussion of meth “Meth is widely used for a million reasons…desire to have lots of sex with lots of partners for long periods.”

The pamphlet goes on to list ways of reducing the risk of using meth: “don’t overdo it…watch your intake, don’t share works [needles. tuters.], eat. drink water, sleep, allow your body to recover, don’t hesitate to get help, listen to what your body is telling you.”

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This at a conference for adolescents.

KOIN reported the Oregon Health Authority (OHA) helps to fund the conference. School districts from around the state send students to attend the conference.

Three state agencies are on the Adolescent Sexuality Conference Steering Committee: the Oregon Attorney General’s Sexual Assault Task Force, the Oregon Department of Education and the Oregon Health Authority.

Ironically, the Meth Project tries to warn people that meth can lead to unwanted sex, and yet here in Oregon the Attorney General’s Sexual Assault Task Force helps put on a conference that promotes meth use.

The conference for adolescents discusses sexting, visiting adult porn sites, cyber and phone sex, masturbating via Skype, pleasuring someone over the internet and it has pamphlets that suggest ways to explore sexuality: “shave each other”, “look at porn”, “lap dance”, “stiptease”, “dry hump” and “take photos of each other’s favorite body parts + features.” A pamphlet handed out at the conference for 6^th graders has a section titled “How do people express their sexual feelings?” that discusses anal sex, oral sex and sexual fantasy.

KOIN reported that the same group that puts on the conference, WISE in Oregon, also provides the sex ed curriculum to 16 Oregon school districts: Gervais, Woodburn, Salem-Keizer, Sherwood, Sheridan, Willamina, Bethel, Paisley, Pleasant Hill, Cascade, Corvallis, Clatskanie, St. Helens, Sisters, Warrenton-Hammond and Tigard-Tualatin.

Related news stories:

Does sex ed conference for students go too far? (KOIN)

Sex ed conference draws response from school officials (South County Spotlight-South Columbia County)

Sheriff wants to shut down Sex Conference (KOIN)

Youth sexuality conference under fire (The Dalles Chronicle)