STUDENTS TO BE QUIZZED ON ALCOHOL, DRUG USE

Student involvement in smoking, drinking, drug use and gambling is the
subject of an Alberta Alcohol and Drug Abuse Commission questionnaire
being sent to a number of Alberta schools.

More than 4,000 junior high and high school students in 100 schools
across the province will be asked to fill out the anonymous survey in
class in either October or November. The schools were randomly chosen
and a letter to parents will seek permission for their child to answer
the survey confidentially.

Thirty-nine out of 41 school boards agreed to have the survey
administered in their schools, said Art Dyer, AADAC's research manager.

The surveys will be returned directly to AADAC after they are
completed. An early report on the findings, which will identify
results only by geographic regions, will be done in April.

Information will be gathered about factors that help predict and
prevent substance use and abuse, such as individual characteristics,
community support and peer and family relationships.

The information will help schools, social service agencies and
government departments develop programs to help prevent or respond to
adolescent substance abuse or gambling, said Dyer.

The last such school survey conducted by AADAC on alcohol and drugs
was done in 1989, he said.

AADAC estimates that eight per cent of Alberta teens -- compared to
five per cent of adults -- are problem gamblers, and another 15 per
cent are at risk for developing gambling related problems.
Seventy-seven per cent of Albertans 15 years and older are drinkers,
averaging 3.5 drinks per week.