Pubdate: Fri, 01 Jun 2012
Source: Province, The (CN BC)
Copyright: 2012 Postmedia Network Inc.
Contact: http://www2.canada.com/theprovince/letters.html
Website: http://www.theprovince.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/476
Author: Kent Spencer - with a file from CP
Referenced: Summary of Results of the 2010-11 Youth Smoking Survey :
http://mapinc.org/url/c2ghWALY
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth)

DRUG USE ABOVE AVERAGE: REPORT

Survey Compares Students' Cigarette, Booze, Pot Usage With Other Provinces

B.C. students are more likely to smoke cigarettes, drink alcohol and 
use marijuana than their counterparts in other Canadian provinces.

The numbers came out in a Health Canada survey released Thursday that 
polled 50,949 students in Grades 6 to 12 across the country. All 
provinces participated except New Brunswick.

Experts who are familiar with B.C.'s propensity for cigarette, 
alcohol and drug use weren't surprised.

"The numbers tend to go up as you move west across the country," said 
Art Steinmann, manager of substance abuse and prevention at the 
Vancouver School Board.

"We don't really know why. Maybe it's the West Coast lifestyle, which 
is a little more laissez faire," he said.

Almost one in three B.C. students in Grades 7 to 12 admitted to using 
cannabis in 2010-11.

The province's 29.5-per-cent rate of admitted usage was second only 
to Nova Scotia's and well above the Canadian average of 21.2 per cent.

"The stats tell us that marijuana is commonly used. A significant 
portion of young people experiment with marijuana, which is up fairly 
significantly from 10 years ago," Steinmann said.

B.C. students' use of alcohol and cigarettes was less pronounced in 
proportion to other provinces, but still above the Canadian average.

Among 300,000 B.C. students in Grades 7 to 12, 49.4 per cent admitted 
using alcohol in 2010-11. The Canadian average was 45.4 per cent.

The 11.5 per cent of B.C. students in Grades 10 to 12 admitting to 
smoking was 1.5 per cent higher than the Canadian average.

In terms of overall numbers, usage of cigarettes, alcohol and 
marijuana dropped slightly across the country, including B.C.

"The drop in tobacco usage is quite dramatic compared with 20 years 
ago," said Steinmann.

Smoking was down three per cent in Grades 10 to 12 across the country 
and marijuana usage down from 27 per cent to 21 in Grades 7 to 12.

"After seeing smoking rates hit historic lows in Canada recently, 
these new statistics are encouraging," said Minister of Health Leona 
Aglukkaq in a press release.

But Steinmann cautioned that categories like binge drinking are still 
a cause for concern.

"Some risky behaviours are quite widespread," he said.

The Vancouver School Board's drug-assistance program is on the web at 
www.vsb.bc.ca/sacy or by phone at 604-790-4507.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom