CANADIAN TEENS TOP POT SMOKERS, STUDY FINDS

15-Year-Olds No. 1 in World Use, Carleton Researchers
Say

Canada's 15-year-olds are among the world's No. 1 teen pot smokers,
according to an expansive new drug and alcohol study funded by Health
Canada.

The work by Carleton University researchers found about half of Grade
10 students have used marijuana at least once, up from onethird in
1990.

That places Canadian 15-yearolds first in age-related cannabis use
among 43 countries and regions participating in the World Health
Organization's collaborative Health Behaviour in School-aged Children
(HBSC) study.

The Carleton researchers conclude: "The proliferation of cannabis use
in this population suggests a need to monitor this trend closely and
its potential consequences for cognitive and psychomotor functioning
and related risk behaviours."

Meanwhile, the study found alcohol use and drunkenness dropped
slightly among youths 12 to 17 years old.

The research, results of which are to be published in the April
edition of the Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, is the first time
nationally representative samples gathered over several years have
been used to estimate drug and alcohol use among Canadian
adolescents.

Previous research relied largely on one-time, provincial and regional
surveys.

The new work, led by Frank J. Elgar in Carleton's psychology
department, is based on five HBSC surveys of Canadian adolescents
every four years from 1990 to 2006, about 30,000 students in all.
Results from 2002 and 2006 also were compared to international HBSC
data Among the findings:

- - In 1990, about 25 per cent of Grade 10 students reported using
marijuana at least once.

- - By 2002, that figure rose to 45 per cent, then dropped to 38 per
cent in 2006.

- - Lifetime prevalence of Canadian Grade 10 students using other drugs,
such as cocaine, remains below 10 per cent.

- - Since 1990, a relatively consistent percentage of about eight per
cent of Grade 10 students used prescription drugs or over-the-counter
medications to get high, dropping to five per cent in 2006.

- - In all five national surveys, most Grade 10 students reported being
drunk at least once, while about onethird of Grade 8 students and
onetenth of Grade 6 students admitted to what they considered
drunkenness.

From 1990 to 2006, the percentage of students in all grade levels who
have been drunk at least once decreased by about seven percentage
points: from 61 per cent to 54 per cent in Grade 10 students, from 34
per cent to 27 per cent in Grade 8 students, and from 13 per cent to 6
per cent in Grade 6 students.

The Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the Social Sciences and
Humanities Research Council of Canada provided additional research
funding.