PROGRAM TARGETS HIGH SCHOOL POT-SMOKERS

High school pot-smokers who get behind the wheel are the targets of
addictions awareness week that kicked off yesterday in Manitoba at the
Circle of Life Thunderbird House.

In Manitoba, more than 40 per cent of high school students have used
marijuana, according to the Addictions Foundation of Manitoba, one of
20 community groups involved in awareness week.

Canadians ages 14 through 25 have the highest rate of pot use in the
world, according to the Canadian Public Health Association. It
launched a national poster campaign yesterday after a recent survey
found that many youths think pot-smoking doesn't impair their ability
to drive a vehicle.

The poster shows commercial airline pilots lighting a joint in the
cockpit as they prepare for take-off. The caption says: "If it doesn't
make sense here, why does it make sense when you drive?"

"Teens weren't aware that driving under the influence of cannabis was
a problem," said Dr. Christiane Poulin, Canadian research chair in
population health and addictions at Dalhousie University in Halifax,
and the force behind a standardized student drug use survey in the
Atlantic provinces.