MORE CANADIANS SMOKING POT

But Only One in 10 Saskatchewan Residents Admits to Marijuana Use

OTTAWA -- Canada is in no danger of turning into a nation of potheads.
But the number of Canadians, especially younger ones, who admit to
indulging in marijuana and hashish almost doubled over a 13-year
period, according to a new Statistics Canada report.

The federal agency says about three million Canadians aged 15 and
older, or 12.2 per cent, admitted in 2002 to using the two cannabis
substances in the previous 12 months. This was up from 6.5 per cent
who reported use of cannabis in 1989, and 7.4 per cent in 1994.

Pot use peaked among 18 and 19 year olds. Almost four in 10 -- 38 per
cent -- reported using marijuana and hashish in the previous year.

Among those ages 15 through 17, the rate was 29 per cent, or almost
three in 10.

Usage drops off the older Canadians get. It drops to six per cent
among those 45 to 54 years of age, and virtually disappears after age
65.

Men in almost all age groups were more likely to use marijuana and
hash than women.

Closer to home, 10 per cent of Saskatchewan residents, 15 years or
older, admitted to using cannabis in 2002 -- a three per cent increase
from 1994, according to the study.

People may have been more willing to admit using cannabis when
responding to survey questions in 2002 than they were in 1989 or 1994
surveys, said Michael Tjepkema, a Statistics Canada analyst.

The data also may reflect changing attitudes about drug use, he
said.

"There was a survey of Ontario high school students and it found that
the risk perceptions about cannabis have weakened since the early
1990s," Tjepkema said. "That same study also found that the
availability of cannabis has increased since 1989."

He noted that lifetime use of cannabis or other illicit drugs in
Saskatchewan is below the national average. In every province except
Manitoba, the level of cannabis use was higher in 2002 than in 1994.

Meanwhile, the head of a group advocating regulated legalization of
marijuana said the trend exposes the ludicrousness of existing laws
that make possession of pot a criminal offence.

"The legal status of the drug has very little to do with whether
people use it," said Eugene Oscapella of the Canadian Foundation for
Drug Policy. "All we're doing is continuing to criminalize millions
and millions of Canadians. I mean three million Canadians have used it
in the past year, are they really criminals?"

Oscapella says police resources are being wasted on chasing down
cannabis offenders instead of serious criminals, and it's time for the
federal Liberals to at least enact proposed legislation to
decriminalize possession of less than 15 grams of pot.

The legislation, which has prompted fierce opposition, is in
limbo.

The Statscan study, based on data from the Canadian Community Health
Survey, also showed Canadians were significantly less likely to use
cocaine/crack, ecstasy, LSD, speed/amphetamines, and heroin.

Only 2.4 per cent of Canadians aged 15 or older had used at least one
of those drugs in the year before the survey, up from 1.6 per cent in
1994.

Crack/cocaine was the drug of choice for most, about 321,000 Canadians
or 1.3 per cent.

Among the three million who admitted to using cannabis in the year
before the survey, close to half used the drug less than once a month.
One in 10 reported weekly use, and another 10 per cent reported daily
use. As a percentage of the total population aged 15 or older, 1.1 per
cent of Canadians used cannabis daily, 2.8 per cent more than once a
week, and 3.9 per cent at least once a week, and six per cent at least
once a month, the report said.

The rates of usage were higher than the national average of 12.2 in
four provinces, including British Columbia, Quebec, Nova Scotia and
Alberta. British Columbia had the highest rate at 16 per cent .

Newfoundland and Labrador, Prince Edward Island and Manitoba had the
lowest rate, all coming in at nine per cent.

The study also reported the rate of cannabis-related drug offences
increased from 119 to 223 per 100,000 population between 1991 and
2002. Most of the offences -- 72 per cent -- involved possession.
Other charges included trafficking, production and importation.
British Columbia had the highest rate of cannabis offences.