MORE ONTARIO ADULTS SMOKE POT

Survey Finds About 14 Per Cent in the Province Like to Spark
Up

TORONTO - More adults in Ontario are smoking marijuana than a decade
ago, and the average age of cannabis users is increasing, Dr. Jurgen
Rehm, senior scientist at the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse said
Monday.

According to the CAHM annual survey of adult substance use, the number
of adults in Ontario who reported cannabis use over a one-year period
is up from eight per cent in 1977 to 14 per cent in 2005.

But more telling, said Rehm, is the aging of the cannabis user who now
is on average 31 years-old compared to 26 years-old in 1977. "For a
long time marijuana smoking was confined to a transitional
phenomenon," Rehm said. "But it now finds its way into an adult lifestyle."

Across Canada, the rate of marijuana use has been increasing,
according to a 2004 study by the Canadian Centre for Substance Abuse.

The percentage of Canadians over the age of 15 who reported cannabis
use at least once in the 2004 study was highest in B.C. at 16.8 per
cent and lowest in P.E.I. at 10.7.

Amy Porath-Waller, senior research analyst at the CCSA, said marijuana
use among men is more prevalent than women but overall the rate of use
still remains low.

"Cannabis use really isn't that frequent among Canadians,"
Porath-Waller said. "Among the Canadians that do report past year use
of cannabis, 46 per cent report two or fewer times in the past three
months."

While the rate of cannabis use among teens has levelled off in recent
years, Rehm, of the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, said more
adults continue to use marijuana contributing to the overall increase
in the average age of pot smokers.

Meanwhile, the number of people who reported smoking cigarettes in
Ontario is the lowest on record, declining from 28 per cent in 1996 to
20 per cent in 2005 Rehm said, arguing the increase in cannabis use
points to the need for more education.

Rehm said marijuana use still remains infrequent for most adults with
only two per cent smoking at hazardous levels.

Still, Rehm said three per cent of respondents reported driving within
one hour of getting high.

Canada ranked fifth in the world for marijuana use according to the
2007 UN World Drug Report.

The report found 16.8 per cent of Canadians ages 15-64 reported using
cannabis at least once in 2006 behind New Guinea and Micronesia with
29 per cent, Ghana at 21.5 per cent and Zambia with 17.7 per cent.