FEWER TEENS SMOKING, BUT BINGE DRINKING STILL A CONCERN

Fewer Ontario teens are getting behind the wheel after drinking
alcohol and teen smoking is at an all-time low in the province,
according to new research from the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health.

The latest results of the 2011 Ontario Student Drug Use and Health
Survey suggest teenagers are paying attention to anti-smoking messages
with just nine per cent of adolescents smoking cigarettes - down from
12 per cent in 2009.

Rates of drinking and driving also continue to fall with seven per
cent of teens saying they drove within an hour of consuming two or
more alcoholic drinks. In 2009, 12 per cent said they had driven
drunk, while in the early 1980s about 46 per cent of teens reported
drinking and driving.

"We were pleasantly surprised to find that students' use of most of
the substances tracked by this survey declined during the past decade,
even for those substances that historically have been used at high
rates," Dr. Robert Mann, a senior scientist at CAMH and the survey's
principal investigator, said in a release.

But the researchers warn there are still areas of concern when it
comes to teens and alcohol and drug use.

While binge drinking rates have dropped in the last decade, there are
still 223,500 high school students who say they consume five or more
alcoholic drinks in one sitting at least once month. The researchers
found that 1 in 10 students say they drink during periods of elevated
psychological distress.

Another area of concern is teens driving after smoking marijuana,
something the survey found is more common than drinking and driving.

The Ontario Student Drug Use and Health Survey is the longest running
school survey in the country. For the 2011 data, researchers surveyed
9,288 students in Grades 7 to 12 from 181 schools.

This is the first year the survey asked students about energy drinks
that contain high levels of caffeine. The survey found 50 per cent of
teens consume these popular beverages, making energy drinks the second
most commonly consumed substance after alcohol.

The findings of the 2011 survey include, among others:

* 55 per cent of participants reported drinking alcohol in the past year.

* Binge drinking rates dropped from 28 per cent in 2001 to 22 per
cent in 2011. The researchers warn this still means 223,500 high
school students are consuming five or more drinks in one sitting at
least once a month.

* About 21,500 teen drivers - about seven per cent - say they have
driven a car within an hour of consuming two or more alcoholic drinks.

* 8,900 students said they had been in a treatment program in the
past year to get help for their alcohol use.

* 1 in 6 students - about 16 per cent - said they had gone to school
either drunk or high at least once in the past year.

* Students in Toronto were below the provincial average when looking
at their use of alcohol, cannabis, cocaine and binge drinking.

* About 22 per cent of students reported using cannabis, a drop from
26 per cent in 2009.

* 1 in 8 students reported symptoms of a drug use problem.

* 12 per cent of teen drivers said they had driven a car within an
hour of using cannabis.