TEENS SAY NO TO DRUGS

Cannabis, Booze, Tobacco. But 'Hard-Core' Use Has Increased Since
2004, Quebec Study Finds

Although recreational drug use among Quebec high school students has
declined markedly since 2004, teens who do use drugs are experiencing
higher rates of social and health problems, according to a new study.

The study, published yesterday by the statistical agency of the
government of Quebec, shows that authorities need to start paying more
attention to abuse of two particular kinds of stimulants - speed and
ecstasy.

The Institut de la statistique du Quebec study found that the broad
category of amphetamines was the only one of a wide number of legal
and illegal drug classifications - from tobacco to hallucinogenic
drugs - not to show a substantial decline in consumption over the past
two years.

Most notably, consumption of cannabis among Quebec teens, which had
recently been twice as prevalent as with teens in any other province,
was down to 29.4 per cent last year, from 36 per cent in 2004.

"The use of alcohol, tobacco and illegal drugs in general by high
school students is down significantly since 2004," said Gaetane Dube,
a project manager for the statistics institute.

"Overall, young people are giving the impression of being a lot wiser
when it comes to drug consumption than they used to be.

"On the other hand, the hard-core problems with drug use are more
prevalent than they were in 2004."

That is to say, although drug consumption overall was down from 36.4
per cent in 2004 to 30.2 per cent last year, the percentage of high
school users whose consumption was seen as a serious problem increased
from five per cent to seven per cent over the same two-year period.

Associated serious problems would include the need for medical help,
dropping out of school or getting in trouble with the law.

When it comes to illegal drugs, the increasing potency of cannabis and
more prevalent use of amphetamines since 2000 have become a growing
concern of addiction experts.

The price of speed and ecstasy pills, for instance, has declined by a
factor of six in the Montreal market over the past six years, to $5 a
pill, sometimes three for $10. That's cheaper than a pint of beer in
some bars.

Some kids see speed as the perfect drug for the high-performance
demands of today's fast-paced society, according to David Ross, a
medical doctor and program adviser to Pavillion Foster, the agency in
charge of publicly funded English-sector drug-rehab services in Quebec.

"You can't smell it, so teachers can't smell it, and for girls,
there's the added incentive of speed helping to keep you thin," said
Nathalie Neron, co-ordinator of the youth program at Centre Dollard
Cormier, the agency in charge of publicly funded French-language
drug-rehab services on the island of Montreal.

Overall, 9.4 per cent of Institut survey respondents reported using
amphetamines at least once in the 12 months before filling out the
survey. The compares with 11 per cent for girls, and eight per cent
for boys. Overall, the combined 9.4-per-cent rate was down only
marginally from 10 per cent in 2004, although it was up from seven per
cent in 2000.

The study was based on questionnaires completed in October of last
year by 4,571 students in 173 classes in 149 Quebec high schools.

"The majority of kids we treat are still coming to us because of
problems relating to their cannabis use," Neron said. "It's not that
cannabis is more harmful than, say, cocaine - it's just that the
greater sheer number of cannabis users generates a larger and steadier
flow of rehab-service seekers."

One in five kids who use marijuana reported information on the survey
that suggests their consumption patterns are problematic. It's closer
to 65 per cent for other, harder drugs.

Among emerging problems with cannabis, Neron said, are episodes of
psychosis in patients where a predisposition toward schizophrenia in
the family medical history is found.

"It isn't that cannabis causes schizophrenia," Neron said. "But if the
predisposition is there, it can unlock it."

The study found differences in drug-consumption patterns across
language and family-status categories in Quebec.

For example, 32 per cent of high school students from homes where
French is the main language spoken reported consuming illegal drugs in
the 12 months before the survey date, compared with just 19 per cent
from homes where English or another language was spoken.

Similarly, 42 per cent of kids from single-parent homes reported using
illegal drugs in the last year, compared with 27 per cent of kids from
two-parent homes.

Fifty-one per cent of Grade 11 students had tried at least one illegal
drug on at least one occasion in the 12-month reference period.