STUDENTS TRY SMOKING AS EARLY AS GRADE 5, SURVEY REVEALS

New findings from the Student Health Survey are proving that area students
are following provincial trends when it comes to smoking.

"The best news out of this survey is that the smoking rate among teens has
declined since 1999," said Jill Steen, program co-ordinator with population
health for the Haldimand-Norfolk Health Unit. "It's good to know we're
following the provincial trend to decrease youth smoking."

While the decline may be true, the survey also showed 15 per cent of Grade
11 students are current smokers. Those results were for students who had
smoked within the past 30 days of the survey, including everything from a
few puffs to those who smoked more than 100 cigarettes in their lifetimes.

"There are at least a couple of factors which have likely contributed to
this decline," said Steen.

The first factor is the price, while Steen said the second factor is the
increased information about the dangers of smoking, which is being
delivered to students.

"As the price of cigarettes continues to increase they are becoming less
and less accessible to youth," she said.

The survey was a followup to the 1999 study of lifestyle and health-related
behaviours of area youth. Steen said about 2,300 students in Grades 5, 7, 9
and 11, from both the Grand Erie District School Board and the
Brant-Haldimand-Norfolk Catholic District School Board. The survey was
conducted between September and December 2003.

While Steen said the unit was pleased with some findings, they have
discovered some areas that are in need of improvement.

"Thanks to the survey we found that we need to be doing more work to
prevent Grade 5s from even considering trying a cigarette," she said.

Evidence of experimentation with tobacco was found in Grade 5.

By Grade 7, 16 per cent of students had smoked at least one puff of a
cigarette in their lifetime. By Grade 11, 22 per cent of students had
smoked at least once during the past 30 days and more than half (55 per
cent) of those students were smoking every day.

"Statistics show that nine out of 10 smokers started in their teens," said
Steen. "If we can get the message to students sooner about the dangers of
smoking maybe we can prevent more from trying."

While health concerns fuel Steen's efforts she said the survey also showed
how smoking was strongly associated with dieting, alcohol consumption,
cannabis and other drug use. A relationship was also found with depression.

Students who smoked cigarettes in Grades 7, 9 and 11 were more likely to
have smoked cannabis in the past month. There was a relationship between
smoking and the use of drugs other than alcohol and cannabis, including
crack/cocaine, designer drugs (Ecstasy, Ketamine, GHB or speed) and
hallucinogens (LSD or psilocybin/mushrooms).

In Grades 9 and 11, 67 per cent of "current" smokers and 39 per cent of
"beginner" smokers used at least one of these other drugs at one time in
their lifetime, compared to 7 per cent of non-smokers.

"These are risky behaviours we want to deter youths from participating in,"
said Steen. "If we can get to students at a young age then we can give them
to tools to make a wise decision."