STUDY FINDS BOOZE, DRUGS ON THE RISE

A study at two metro junior high schools has found the number of teens who
smoke, drink or do drugs -- or all three -- is on the rise.

The study, commissioned by the Halifax regional school board two years ago,
found that more teens are having major problems because of substance abuse.

The research was done at Prince Arthur Junior High School in Dartmouth and
Ridgecliff Middle School in Timberlea, and results match an earlier
provincial study.

Dr. Christiane Poulin, a Dalhousie University researcher and
epidemiologist, told the board yesterday about six per cent to 10 per cent
of students at each school are considered at high risk, because they had
three or more problems as a result of substance abuse.

Those problems included drinking and driving, doing poorly at school work
or exams, having unplanned sexual intercourse while under the influence,
and tension with family and friends.

The study was produced for the board's drug intervention project, whose
partners include Dal and the provincial Health Department.

The project will make recommendations later this year on new ways to
educate kids about drugs.

"It's to re-focus drug education on the entire experience in the teenage
population, not just the experience of the teenagers who don't abuse,"
Poulin said.

"To look at all the risks, the patterns of abuse, what we can do to help
teenagers make other decisions to decrease their risk, and to bring that to
the school level."

Mason Hindle, 14, a Grade 9 student at Ridgecliff, is on a committee
looking at ways to combat the problems that alcohol and drugs bring.

He got involved because he's seen friends get into trouble.

"Out in our area, there's not much to do," Hindle said. "That's what we're
trying to change -- to get something for the kids to do."

His group's long-term goal is set up a teen centre so they have somewhere
to go.

"We can occupy ourselves; we just need a place to do it," he said.