MARIJUANA USE IN CANADA TOPS INDUSTRIALIZED WORLD

Marijuana use in Canada is the highest in the industrialized world,
far higher than in the Netherlands where it's legal, and more than
four times the global rate, a report by the United Nations has found.

The report also says cannabis use around the world appears to have
stabilized and appears to be declining in North America. A plunge in
use by Ontario high school students was cited as a factor in the trend.

The world drug-use study by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime said that
16.8 per cent of Canadians aged 15 to 64 smoked marijuana or used
other cannabis products in 2004, the most recent year for which
statistics were cited. Marijuana possession remains illegal in Canada,
despite years of recommendations to decriminalize it.

The study, using the most recent statistics collected from each
country, estimated that 3.8 per cent of the world's population aged 15
to 64 used cannabis in 2005. That was about 159 million people, down
slightly from 162 million the previous year.

Canadian usage was fifth after Zambia (17.7 per cent in 2003) and
Ghana (21.5 per cent in 1998). Papua New Guinea and Micronesia tied
for first place at 29 per cent each in 1995.

Forty per cent of Canadian cannabis is produced in B.C., 25 per cent
in Ontario and 25 per cent in Quebec, the report said.