IT'S EASIER TO GET POT AT SCHOOL THAN CIGARETTES, TEENAGERS SAY

OTTAWA -- Marijuana is perceived as easier to find than cigarettes on
Canadian school grounds, a newly released government report on
teenagers shows.

Commissioned by Health Canada, the report was prepared for the
department's effort in developing refusal skills among teenagers. It
said the easier access to marijuana is ironically due to the legal age
limit for smoking cigarettes and the fact that you have to buy
cigarettes through traditional outlets, such as corner stores.

Based on focus groups held across the country, it also says that
Canadian teens believe marijuana is less harmful than cigarettes,
because messages on the health effects of cigarettes and second-hand
smoke have been so successful.

On the subject of marijuana, however, teens had typically only heard
about the legalization of the substance or use of marijuana for
medicinal purposes, not about potential health effects, the report
said.

It said teens in the focus groups believed marijuana smokers were
unaware of the substance's adverse effects "aside from killing brain
cells or making 'users' lazy."

The report is being released as the federal government promises to
move on legislation before the House of Commons that will
decriminalize marijuana, as well as a companion bill to stop people
from driving while on drugs.

A poll released in November found Canadians are smoking marijuana more
than ever before and that almost 30 per cent of 15- to 17-year-olds
and 47 per cent of 18- and 19-year-olds had used marijuana in the last
year.

Prepared by Millward Brown Goldfarb, the report is based on research
from 16 focus groups held earlier this year in Toronto, Montreal,
Regina and Halifax. The groups were divided into three age categories
- -- 10-12, 13-15 and 16-19 -- in each location, with the oldest group
also being divided up between smokers and non-smokers.

Paul Dufresne, a spokesman for Health Canada, said the department is
following the $56,000 report's recommendation to create separate
messages regarding smoking tobacco and marijuana.