Doctor urges teaching use of marijuana
Kids won't listen to abstinence talk, research shows

By Rebecca Bragg Toronto Star Staff Reporter

High school students should be taught how to use marijuana
safely because abstinence messages from adults are falling
on deaf ears, the director of the Addiction Research
Foundation says.

Commenting yesterday on the results of an ARF study of
marijuana use among high school students, Dr. Perry Kendall
said that in order to protect those teens most vulnerable to
drug abuse, education ``should address issues of less
harmful or responsible use'' of marijuana.

``We should recognize that a substantial proportion of
kids are going to experiment and in that case, I think we
should recognize our obligation to see that this doesn't
lead them into danger,'' Kendall said.

The study, which involved 49 focus groups in nine high
schools across Ontario, surveyed 278 students about their
marijuana use. It found that abstinence messages from adults
carried little weight with teens.

Adults who had never used marijuana were seen as not
having any firsthand knowledge of its effects, Kendall
said. And those who admitted they had used marijuana yet
told teens to stay away from it were regarded as
hypocritical.

``Kids at a certain age become quite acutely aware of
what look like paradoxes,'' he noted.

The study also found that the teens surveyed considered
social or recreational use of marijuana to be normal, not an
act of rebellion.

``If your message stops at abstinence . . . you're not
providing much assistance.''

He acknowledged that while this viewpoint might be
controversial, teens who occasionally used marijuana were
unlikely to come to harm ``provided they don't get arrested
or drive or operate machinery.''

Although only a minority smoked the drug regularly
(about 40 per cent of Grade 11 students had used marijuana
within the past year), they did not feel they had been
forced to do so by peer pressure, the study found.

``The good message is that they view solitary or
frequent use as being problematic."

School boards and public health agencies should evaluate
the effectiveness of their drug education programs and
``concentrate their resources on those students who need
help the most, the ones at risk of developing serious drug
problems,'' Kendall said.