SASK. LEADS IN ALCOHOL, DRUG ABUSE

REGINA (SNN) -- Saskatchewan has the highest rate of alcohol and drug
use problems in Canada, followed closely by other western provinces,
according to recently released research.

In the study entitled Geographical variation in the prevalence of
problematic substance use in Canada, researchers with the Centre for
Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) found Saskatchewan had a nearly 16
per cent prevalence rate. The national average was 11 per cent.

"The difference between Saskatchewan and the rest of the West isn't
really significant. . . . It is definitely higher than Central Canada
and the national average but there is not that much difference
between Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Alberta and B.C.," said Scott
Veldhuizen, one of the report's authors.

The report was published in a recent edition of the Canadian Journal
of Psychiatry. The research was done using information from a recent
Statistics Canada study about mental health and well-being, which
included interviews with more than 35,000 Canadians.

Veldhuizen said the study looked at specific factors including age,
sex, education, marital status, immigrant status, income adequacy,
unemployment, chronic physical health conditions and depression or
anxiety issues. Rather than focusing on severe addictions or
dependence, the study examined people who had experienced difficulty
with drugs or alcohol in the last year.

But the research could not pinpoint clear reasons for the
geographical differences in substance abuse rates.

"Things that played a role included immigration. Immigrants tend to
have a low level of abuse problems and the major cities and heavily
populated part of Central Canada has the most immigrants, which is
one reason prevalence is lower," he said.

"But there is kind of this larger disparity between that part of the
country and the rest and it is economic. There is a difference in
crime rates and it seems to include some of these problems as well."

Healthy Living Services Minister Graham Addley said when Project Hope
was established by the province two years ago, the goal was to have a
strategy that will ensure every child in Saskatchewan has a chance to
grow up free from addiction. Through the project's work, some
specific problems have been encountered and addressed, which may be
unique to Saskatchewan.

"Young people all have different attitudes towards substance abuse,
in particular, alcohol. There seems to be in Western Canada -- and
I'm from rural Saskatchewan -- a different attitude towards drinking
than there is say in the urban centres or larger centres in Eastern
Canada. Somehow, binge drinking is a right of passage and it is
somehow OK," said Addley, adding an anti-binge drinking strategy has
been established, including advertisements on television and in
washrooms of bars.

Addley admitted the findings of the CAMH report weren't surprising,
but the research will be analyzed to see if it can help with adapting
some of the programs within Project Hope.

Veldhuizen explained it was an exploratory study that paves the way
for more research to be completed.