JACKSON (AP) - Alcohol and marijuana use by Teton County students has risen since 2001 and exceeds the state averages, according to school district surveys.

The surveys also suggested that more teenagers are having sex while using drugs or alcohol.

Some who saw the survey results say they reflect Teton County's party atmosphere - especially among tourists. If substance abuse is accepted, experts say, there is little that schools or other organizations can do.

"We can have all the programs we want, and there are a lot in Teton County," said Jean Coldsmith, head of the school district's at-risk committee and principal of Jackson Hole Middle School. "If those laws and norms and attitudes aren't changed, it's very hard to make a difference. I think our data will support that."

Coldsmith spoke to about 50 community leaders at the Teton County Public Library.

The results show that more middle- and high-school students are drinking and smoking pot than two years ago, while use of LSD, cocaine, heroin and ecstasy was up slightly for sixth-, eighth- and 10th-graders.

Results also show that high school students had sex under the influence of alcohol or drugs more than their counterparts elsewhere in the state.

"There is no way to deny it," Coldsmith said. "That data is there."

The information came from the Youth Risk Behavior Survey in 2003 and the Prevention Needs Assessment done last year.

Underage drinking, the surveys showed, is Teton County's most challenging problem. Prevention Needs Assessment found that more students in sixth, eighth, 10th and 12th grades (the only ones surveyed) drank alcohol than in 2001, the last time the survey was done.

About 38 percent of sophomores reported binge drinking during 30 days before being surveyed, compared with the statewide average of 28 percent. Similarly, about 54 percent of Jackson Hole seniors reported binge drinking; the state average is 38 percent.

While alcohol may be the drug of choice, marijuana use remained prevalent.

According to the Prevention Needs Assessment, about 48 percent of sophomores reported smoking marijuana during their lifetimes, as opposed to about 36 percent in 2001. About 18 percent of eighth-graders reported the same, up from 5 percent in 2001.

And while no sixth-graders reported using pot in 2001, 4 percent did in 2004.

Additionally, about 30 percent of high school students reported having sex while under the influence of alcohol or drugs during the three months before the Youth Risk Behavior Survey. Wyoming's rate was about 26 percent.

Of the good news reported, tobacco use was down.