STUDENTS' POT USE ALARMS EDUCATORS

Facing An Uphill Battle Against Marijuana, Schools Say New Law Sends
Wrong Message

Danny sucks on the joint like a pro. At 17, he started smoking
marijuana shortly after entering high school, and lunch hour is prime
time for getting high.

"Everybody does it," says Danny, who asked that his real name not be
used. "It's no big deal." He and two other friends pass around the
joint as they huddle in an area of Jackson Park that's far enough away
from the watchful eyes of Kennedy high school administrators. The
marijuana cigarette was purchased just minutes ago from a fellow
student - one of a handful of dealers who profit from on-site demand
for a drug that has become a fact of life in Ontario high schools.

Marijuana use among teenagers has risen to the point where it has
overtaken tobacco for the first time as the second most popular drug
of choice behind alcohol, according to a recent study by the Centre
for Addiction and Mental Health. The trend is alarming school
officials and politicians, who fear it will only get worse under
Ottawa's plan to decriminalize marijuana.

"It doesn't make a lot of sense," says Randy White, Conservative
solicitor general critic and MP for Langley-Abbotsford. "Canada should
be telling kids not to smoke pot; instead we're telling kids 'you'll
just get a fine.' "

Federal Justice Minister Irwin Cotler, who reintroduced the
legislation earlier this month, insists the bill constitutes a
multi-pronged approach that includes tougher penalties for grow-ops as
well as funding for a public education campaign aimed at discouraging
the use of marijuana and other illicit drugs.

"Cannabis use is harmful and it will remain illegal in Canada," Cotler
says. "Combining cannabis reform with this public education campaign
will reinforce the message that marijuana is illegal and harmful to
one's health."

But the minister's reassurances offer little comfort to principals
like Tom Halliwill, who face an uphill battle against pot-smoking
students who believe inhaling a joint is no worse than consuming alcohol.

"There are drugs in every school in North America," asserts Halliwill,
principal of W.F. Herman high school. "I think it's more socially
acceptable; a lot of parents do it. In the media they're talking about
decriminalization. Well, kids read the paper, too, and it seems
smoking pot doesn't carry the same stigma it had during the '70s."

In fact, in the minds of some students, pot is far less harmful than
tobacco. "Cigarettes are worse; they're addictive," says Jason, a
Grade 11 student at Herman who didn't want his real name published.
"Pot can become habitual, and you know what's in it. It's not like
cigarettes that contain chemicals like formaldehyde. Look at what
second-hand smoke can do to you."

At F.J. Brennan Catholic high school, principal JoAnne Shea says the
eight pot-related suspensions she handed out last year do not reflect
the full extent of use among students. "I'd literally have to be
policing alleyways," says Shea, adding that the school hears from
nearby residents and businesses complaining about kids smoking up.

The majority of Brennan's 1,027 students are not using marijuana
during the school day, says Shea. "We're hearing that pot is the drug
of choice during the week; on the weekends it's alcohol."

Major challenges for principals include detecting use and catching
kids in the act, she says. "We're always trying for evidence; it's
easily camouflaged."

And it's affordable. "I was offered some just this morning during food
and nutrition class in second period," says Herman high school student
Jason, a pot smoker who declined the offer. "Pot is sold in the school
on a regular basis."

The going rate for one cigarette is $5, or three joints for $10, he
says. "You can make good money."

Identifying drug dealers is also easy, says 16-year-old Kennedy
student Derek - not his real name. "Most people that deal are always
high," says Derek, who used pot weekly until it started affecting his
grades and athletic performance. Now, he indulges "once in awhile, on
a Friday when I'm with friends.

"My parents said I can smoke weed as long as I don't get into trouble
and continue to do well in school, but they didn't like that I was
doing it."

CULTURAL SHIFT

Richard Pollock, a Windsor lawyer and federal prosecutor, attributes
the rising use of marijuana to the ever-increasing supply of marijuana
from large-scale hydroponic operations in the area. But more
troubling, says Pollock, is the cultural shift that has contributed to
the growing perception that pot use is acceptable.

"I've prosecuted cases where children under the age of 16 have been
caught consuming cannabis out in the open, in public places and not
hidden for fear of getting caught. I've prosecuted cases where teens
were smoking up and their parents were aware of it.

"This debate (over decriminalization) is taking place in a vacuum
without considering how it's affecting the lives and activities of our
children."

Under Ontario's Safe Schools Act, a student found to be under the
influence or possession of a drug, including alcohol and illegal
substances, faces an automatic 10-day suspension, says Vickie Komar,
supervisor of social work at the Greater Essex County District School
Board. "And, there's always a recommendation to student and families
to seek counselling through a variety of agencies that can provide
education and support."

While both the public and Catholic boards offer anti-drug workshops
and assemblies featuring police officers and a variety of public
speakers, schools can't tackle the problem alone, say education officials.

"It has to be a community response; like the campaign against drinking
and driving," says Komar. "The message has to be that it's not
socially acceptable.

"As long as the message among teens is 'everyone is doing it,' it
becomes normal behaviour and it's much more difficult for us to step
in."

Even teens who refrain from using pot face intense peer pressure to
smoke up, says Katie Moore, a Grade 12 student at Brennan. "People
call me a narc, a police narcotics officer, because I want to stop
drugs. If you're one to go against it, you're looked down upon."

Determined to spread her anti-drug message, Moore says she's
researched the impact of pot, noting the grade on the streets today is
far more potent than what was available in previous years. "The THC is
much higher. It's going to affect your judgment, especially when
you're driving and you're high."

Current growing methods have made pot more potent, said Const. Deb
Mineau, spokeswoman for Essex Ontario Provincial Police. In 1960, an
average marijuana cigarette contained 0.2 per cent THC - the
mind-altering ingredient in pot, says Mineau. Today, the level of THC
in an average joint is between five and 14 per cent.

Users like Derek agree that pot isn't a benign drug. "I couldn't
concentrate in school," he says. Push came to shove when he began
playing competitive hockey. "I was skating real slow. So that's when I
cut back."

Still, misconceptions about pot are widespread, says Stephen Gard,
Focus Community co-ordinator at the Teen Health Centre.

"It's becoming normalized. I'm being told that it's not that bad. Some
teens think decriminalization means legalization."

And some teens, like Bogdan Babos, an 18-year-old student at Herman,
doubts the battle against pot can be won. "Obviously it's there. You
won't be able to stop them from trying it. I know they're going to try
it sooner or later -- it's a given."

Adds Jason: "They've been trying to stop kids from having sex for how long,
now? If they want to do it, they'll find a way to do it, so why stop them?"

THE STATS

Drug use among students from Grade 7 through Grade 12
(2003)

Alcohol 66.2 per cent

Cannabis 29.6 per cent

Binge drinking 26.5 per cent*

Cigarettes 19.2 per cent

Hallucinogens 10 per cent

Pot use soared from 6.2 per cent in Grade 7 to 44.8 per cent in Grade
12.

In the spring of 2003, 6,616 students in Grades 7 to 12 from 37 school
boards participated in the study by The Centre for Addiction and
Mental Health's Ontario Student Drug Use Survey.

* Binge drinking (five-plus drinks on one occasion) refers to the past
four weeks time period.