TEEN DRUG, ALCOHOL USE DOWN

Survey Suggests Young People Buck Trend To Heavier Drinking

A new report indicates the use of alcohol, tobacco and other
substances among B.C. teenagers is down.

Based largely on a survey of close to 30,000 Grade 7 to 12 students --
92 per cent of B.C. students in those grades -- the report was
prepared by the University of Victoria-based Centre for Addictions
Research of B.C. and the Vancouver-based McCreary Centre Society. The
society does a survey on adolescent health every five years, and this
time included more focused questions on substance use.

The downward trend in some substance use is no cause for complacency
but it's encouraging, said Tim Stockwell, director of the UVic-based
centre. "It's nice to see a bit of daylight and some grounds for optimism."

Tobacco use has shown the steepest decline at eight per cent in the
last five years. Marijuana use is down seven per cent and alcohol use
has dropped four per cent.

"I think B.C.'s been a leader on tobacco," Stockwell said.
"Marijuana's clearly overtaken tobacco, but that is also going down.
[It's] taken over from tobacco as the main drug of abuse for smoking
among teenagers."

He said teenagers' declining alcohol use contrasts with overall
alcohol consumption in B.C., which has climbed 16 per cent in the past
decade.

"So young people appear to be bucking the trend. There's something
good going on."

But he pointed out that substance-related issues among youth increase
with age.

"It's quite clear that as the kids get older, there's more and more
experimentation and some significant problems being reported, but the
overall level of use and related harm is down.

"As there's less drinking in any population group there are less
related risk behaviours and problems."

One trend is the combining of substances, such as alcohol with
marijuana or other drugs, Stockwell said. The biggest jump among B.C.
teenagers is in the use of prescription pills, which has gone from
nine to 15 per cent.

Use of hallucinogens, which can include LSD and ecstasy, is reported
to be up slightly from seven to nine per cent. Ecstasy is believed to
be the dominant substance in that category.

Stockwell said survey respondants were asked if they'd tried certain
substances, but not how often or how recently.

The information gathered in B.C. is more positive than in many other
places, he said, noting that alcohol use among young people in
Britain, Ireland, Italy and Australia, for example, is getting worse.

If you're a parent in B.C., the chances are good that your teenager
neither smokes nor drinks, he said.