MARIJUANA USE MORPHS INTO LIFESTYLE OF ADULTS

B.C. First, P.E.I. Last in Survey

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 Centre for Addiction and Mental Health
said yesterday.

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 on 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.