SURVEY: TEEN SMOKING DOWN

Young Nova Scotians turned away from cigarettes this year, but booze and
pot remained popular.

The 2002 student drug-use survey shows the smoking rate among adolescents
was 23 per cent, down from 36 per cent four years ago.

That's the lowest level recorded since the surveys began in 1991.

The co-ordinator of the province's tobacco strategy said lower smoking
rates are showing up across Canada, and appear to be the result of
anti-cigarette education and higher prices.

Nancy Hoddinott said a new advertising campaign, combined with provisions
in the province's Smoke-Free Places Act that will outlaw smoking on school
grounds in January, should lead to fewer kids getting addicted.

The province is also starting a student-led program to help students quit.

"I'm confident ... we will see further reductions," she said.

Health Minister Jamie Muir said the overall trend for student drug use is
positive.

"This new evidence shows us, if in fact, that 40 per cent of Nova Scotia's
students between Grades 7 and 12 are not using any drugs," Muir said.

"These are the kids we don't hear enough about. We need to support these
young people as they continue to make healthy choices."

Not much upside

Timberlea-Prospect NDP MLA Bill Estabrooks said he doesn't see much upside
in the numbers.

"Sex, drugs, booze and rock 'n' roll are alive and well among teenagers in
Nova Scotia," he said.

Except for tobacco, there were no significant decreases in the numbers of
kids using drugs.

The information collected from student surveys this spring showed 52 per
cent of students consumed alcohol this year, and 28 per cent said they had
been drunk at least once in the previous month.

Cannabis use was down slightly from 2001, with 37 per cent of adolescents
taking the drug this year. That's still more than double the 1991 level.

Pot smoking is highest among Grade 12s, with 57 per cent taking a toke at
least once this year. It's a daily habit for five per cent of students.

Dalhousie University community health professor Christiane Poulin said the
increased marijuana use might stem from a permissive generation of parents,
and the mixed message that arises from the ongoing debate over legalization.

"I think it would be helpful not to have a mixed message," she said.

The study, conducted last spring by the provincial Health Department,
anonymously surveyed 4,300 students in Grades 7, 9, 10, and 12 .