Pubdate: Wed, 19 Nov 2003
Source: Globe and Mail (Canada)
Copyright: 2003, The Globe and Mail Company
Contact:  http://www.globeandmail.ca/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/168
Author: Caroline Alphonso, Education Reporter
Study Cited: http://www.camh.net/pdf/OSDUS03-drugdetail-final.pdf
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/coke.htm (Cocaine)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mdma.htm (Ecstasy)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth)

STUDENT DRUG USE RISING IN ONTARIO, STUDY SAYS

Ontario students are not afraid to try most illicit drugs, with cocaine and 
cannabis use on the rise and binge drinking remaining a problem, according 
to a study released yesterday.

The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health's Ontario student drug use 
study, the longest continuing school survey of young people in the country, 
found that since the early 1990s, the risk perception surrounding most drug 
use, except ecstasy, has gradually weakened. The study, which spans more 
than two decades, is a signal of what is happening across the country, 
researchers say.

"Ecstasy is perceived as a much more risky adventure, and in the interim 
cocaine [use] has risen somewhat. So we have . . . perhaps a substitution 
occurring," Edward Adlaf, the centre's senior scientist and lead 
researcher, said at a news conference yesterday.

Ecstasy use among students this year was 4.1 per cent, down from 6 per cent 
in 2001, the survey found. But cocaine and marijuana use continued on an 
upward trend, with mainly girls increasing their use of the latter drug. 
The reported availability of both drugs has increased significantly since 1989.

Binge drinking, meanwhile, remains at elevated levels. Twenty-five per cent 
of students surveyed consume five or more drinks in a single sitting, 
compared with 15 per cent who drank that much 10 years earlier, Dr. Adlaf said.

There was some good news. The escalating trend in adolescent drug use 
experienced in the early 1990s is waning, Dr. Adlaf said.

But he cautioned that some red flags remain. Students started turning their 
backs on ecstasy after it came under the spotlight for its adverse effects, 
but they have replaced it with other drugs, he said.

About 6,600 students participated in the survey last spring, with all data 
based on anonymous self-reporting from questionnaires distributed and 
completed in classrooms. Researchers noted that one-third of students do 
not consume any substance, including alcohol or tobacco.

Still, health officials at the centre are troubled by students' binge 
drinking, especially with one in seven driving within an hour of consuming 
two or more drinks.

"We're particularly concerned that youth still do not recognize that binge 
drinking is a hazardous and serious threat to their health," said Peter 
Coleridge, vice-president of communications, education and community health 
at the centre.
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MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager