POT USE SPARKS PROGRAM

TORONTO - More than one in four Ontario high school students used
marijuana last year.

So Parent Action on Drugs is launching a new provincial campaign to
teach teens and their parents that marijuana is not a benign drug,
that it can produce serious side-effects such as failing grades, sleep
deprivation and anger-management problems.

The What's With Weed program doesn't push for zero use, the old "just
say no" approach to drugs, but asks students to consider whether their
pot use has become a problem in their lives.

Diane Buhler, executive director of Parent Action on Drugs, said the
school-based, peer-led program and a website gives students the facts
about marijuana and lets them make their own choices.

The www.whatswithweed.ca website -- featuring a self-quiz about
marijuana use and messages from fellow teens -- will be launched
Monday at the start of Drug Awareness Week.

Malvern collegiate institute Grade 12 student Natasha Lantz, who
served as a youth adviser in developing the program, said every
student entering high school will have to make a choice about marijuana.

"It's definitely something that's always present."

Students won't stop using marijuana just because someone tells them
to, so it's important to give them information on how it can affect
their lives, she said. "Most people are under the impression that it's
a harm-free drug," Lantz said.

Tom Walker, an addiction counsellor with Breakaway Youth and Family
Services, said marijuana use can cause users to become chronically
tired or angry.

Teenage users can "sleepwalk through school," leading to poor grades
and failing ambition, he said.