DRUG STATS LIFT MATURE BROWS

Discussions of substance abuse among adolescents remind me of Joe Walsh's
classic quip. He was pushing 30 and playing guitar for the Eagles when
Walsh looked back at his youth and said:

"If they'd had drugs when I was in high school, I'd still be in high school."

Times have changed. A study conducted by the Quebec government's Institut
de la Statistique indicates that drugs are being used by students at the
province's high schools.

This is not a revelation to anyone who works in the education sector or
knows someone who does. Nor will it be particularly surprising to those of
us who might have occasion to frequent shopping malls that are within
staggering distance of a high school.

The study, a first of its kind in Quebec, did not focus solely on drug use.
Teens also were asked whether they gambled or consumed alcohol.

Research was conducted between Oct. 31 and Dec. 15, 2000. The study
surveyed 4,730 students age 12 to 18, in 156 secondary schools, French and
English, public and private.

Because there were no similar studies conducted when Joe Walsh and I were
in high school, there is no statistical basis for drawing a comparison.
That won't stop me from offering up some seat-of-the-pants sociology.

I'll paraphrase the welcoming lecture I heard at McGill when I showed up
there in 1965, a 17-year-old innocent fresh out of a typically drug-free
Montreal high school. The freshman class, assembled, as I recall, in the
cavernous McConnell winter stadium, was told to "look at the person sitting
on your left."

"Now look at the person on your right," the welcomer continued. "In four
years, one of you won't be at McGill."

Let's adapt that '60s-vintage analysis of graduation and dropout rates to
contemporary substance use and abuse. We'll address our remarks to students
sitting in Grade 11 math class:

"Look to the left of you. Look to your right.

"One of you is stoned out of his freaking gourd."

Or pissed as a newt.

Or desperately hoping that the Eagles beat the Bears by at least a
converted touchdown.

I hate to harp on the purblind innocence of my distant youth, but as I
grappled unsuccessfully with the mysteries of senior math, lifetime alcohol
consumption had consisted of two drafts at what was then the Rachel Tavern,
and the sum total of my gambling was the $2 I'd bet a skeptical classmate
that I'd get a prom date before he did (we both lost).

Times change. Middle-aged eyebrows might be elevated by some of the
statistics in the Quebec study - 20 per cent of high-school students who
consume alcohol do so on a regular basis; 42 per cent had taken drugs
during the 12 months preceding the survey; 70 per cent of students have
gambled.

Teenagers are more precocious than previous generations. To paraphrase Joe
Walsh, if people were having sex when I was in high school - ah, I'd still
be home on prom night.

The study should not cause shock waves of panic among anguished parents
wondering where they went wrong. In assigning traffic-signal designations
to booze and drug use in the high-school population, the study found 80 per
cent of students in the green-light category of "no obvious alcohol and
drug abuse problem," 13 per cent in yellow-light - "could pose a problem" -
territory, and only 6 per cent in the red-light zone of heavy use requiring
special intervention to treat addiction.

Six per cent? No big deal. I had more stoners than that at my wedding.
There's probably a higher proportion of Quebecers who believe Elvis is
alive (and about 5.5 per cent who think the PQ will be re-elected).

But no one - least of all Joe Walsh fans who are parents of high-school
students - ought to be complacent. Quebec has designated Nov. 17 to 23 as
addiction prevention week. High-school students across the province will be
getting a leaflet that reminds parents they are role models when it comes
to consumption of drugs and alcohol.

Read. Discuss. Teach, don't preach.

Correspondence with Mike Boone may appear in his reader feedback column,
Ask a Columnist, which appears at canada.com/montreal. If you do not want
your E-mail to appear in the column, please advise Boone.