AREA STUDENTS AGREE

Marijuana Is Easier To Get Than Cigarettes

At Ecole secondaire Grande-Riviere in Aylmer yesterday afternoon, when
students were asked what would be easier for them to buy -- marijuana or
cigarettes -- their answer was swift and sure.

"Marijuana definitely," Emilie Seguin says. "You can get it right here in
five seconds."

Buying cigarettes, on the other hand, would probably take closer to 30
minutes, since you'd have to find someone old enough or with identification
to buy them.

Nearby, Marie-Claire Messier, 16, agrees.

"I think because I don't look very old, marijuana would be a lot easier,"
she says. "You can ask five people and there's a good chance that at least
one will sell some, or know where to get some."

And it isn't just at school. Teens are scoring drugs on city streets and at
local shopping centres and plazas.

Behind the Cinema des Galeries Aylmer, a group of teens, some wearing
baseball caps and baggy jeans, with school bags on their backs, smoke --
cigarettes and marijuana.

A couple of joints are passed between the group and then one pulls out a
bag full of marijuana and starts rolling a joint.

The teens, mostly male, talk candidly, joking about how easy it is to find
marijuana in Aylmer, especially if you know where to look and who to ask.
The group estimates that out of 10, nine of them smoke marijuana.

They say they use it to relieve stress and problems at home, to be social,
and to get their creative juices flowing.