Pubdate: Sat, 14 May 2005 Source: Peterborough Examiner, The (CN ON) Copyright: 2005 Osprey Media Group Inc. Contact: http://www.thepeterboroughexaminer.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2616 Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth) TEEN DRUG USE Heed The Warning Dr. Bob Neville has a higher level of expertise than most when it comes to drug use by youths, and public health officials are wise to listen to him. Neville was at the public health board this week raising an alarm about the number of very young teenagers who are experimenting with everything from ecstasy to cocaine. It's a message that is sometimes dismissed as the narrow-minded view of an older generation that has forgotten what it's like to be a kid. However, Neville is not some knee-jerk reactionary. As a general practitioner, he hears stories about drug use from his patients, some as young as 13. He obviously has some special skills as a communicator that get these teens talking frankly about what they are up to. That may have something to do with his experience as a father of seven young children of his own. He is also a coroner, which means he is in regular contact with police officers and gets information from them. Among the information he shared with the health board was the 2003 Ontario Student Drug Use Survey (OSDUS), done every two years by the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health. It found that overall, use of many drugs fell slightly during the previous two years. However, alcohol, marijuana and cocaine were all more common. And a 10-year comparison shows the trend has been consistent. Among students in Grades 7, 9 and 11, the percentage who had used each drug at least once in the past 12 months was noticeably higher. Cocaine use rose to 5.1 per cent from 1.5 per cent; marijuana to 27.8 per cent from 11.5 per cent; and alcohol to 62.9 per cent from 53.6 per cent. If there is good news in those figures, it's that alcohol consumption is rising at a slower pace. The survey also found students start drinking later. The disturbing news is that cocaine is on the rise, and among Grade 7 pupils is back to the level of popularity it had in the late 1970s, when teen drug use generally peaked in all categories. That backs up Neville's anecdotal evidence of patients as young as 13 telling him they have tried not just marijuana but ecstasy and cocaine. Neville confessed that he had for years bought into one of the comfortable myths of the small-town dweller. "I've always thought of Peterborough as being a kind of oasis where we don't have these problems," he said. "But we do." The corollary to the belief that smaller, isolated cities like Peterborough are largely drug free is that big cities -- and in Ontario that means Toronto -- are not nearly so benign. The OSDUS results show the opposite is true. Twenty-three drugs are listed in the survey and Toronto teens reported a lower percentage of use than the provincial average for all but two: glue and solvents. Neville believes that the best way to turn teens away from drugs is to educate their parents -- people who may, as he did, underestimate the availability of drugs and the chance that their children are using them. It's a logical approach. Both local school boards have drug awareness programs that don't need to be duplicated. Teaching parents what to watch for and convincing them to talk to their children, particularly if they suspect a problem, is a job for the public health system. Dr. Garry Humphreys, the medical officer of health, has promised to develop a drug education program aimed at parents within the next month. It should pay special attention to the dangers of abuse by young teenagers, and emphasize that the problem is very real. - --- MAP posted-by: Derek