DOES SUSSEX HAVE A DRUG PROBLEM?

On a wellness survey conducted a year ago, the NB Department of Health
asked high school students questions on healthy food choices, physical
fitness, mental wellness, and smoking, alcohol and drug use.

The results showed SRHS students are smoking, drinking and taking
drugs more frequently and at a younger age than previously believed.
The survey showed 18 per cent of SRHS students are regular smokers,
while 46 per cent have tried tobacco. More than three-quarters of SRHS
students 78 per cent reported having a drink of alcohol that was more
than a sip.

But drug use stats were the most startling: 50 per cent of SRHS
students reported having tried marijuana, and 76 per cent said the
drug would be easy to obtain in town. Of those students who had used
marijuana, almost half said they'd first tried it at age 13 or
younger, indicating widespread experimentation at the middle school
level.

Portage residents from the immediate area of Norton to Penobsquis
reported similar use beginning relatively early in life. The average
age when they began both drinking and taking drugs was 12, although
their average age upon arrival at Portage was 17, meaning it took an
average of five years to go from experimentation to addiction to the
point of needing and wanting help.

Among local Portage residents, marijuana was the most popular drug of
choice, with 81 per cent having used it, while 53 per cent went from
marijuana to harder drugs like cocaine, mescaline, LSD, crack,
morphine and Dilaudid.