WHAT'S YOUR POISON?

John starts his day like most people do. He wakes up early, travels to work
at a private Ottawa firm and puts in his eight hours.

Then comes home time. Then comes toke time.

"It relaxes me. It helps me focus and concentrate on my hobbies," John says.

The 27-year-old smokes up daily and tried it for the first time about 11/2
years ago.

John isn't alone. In fact, more and more Canadians are reporting frequent
use of pot, according to the Canadian Addiction Survey, a report released
yesterday by Health Canada, the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse and the
Canadian Executive Council on Addictions.

Among the findings, 44.5% of respondents report using marijuana at least
once in their lives. That number jumps dramatically for respondents in the
18-to-24 age group, 70% of whom report experimenting with pot.

About 18% of past-year pot users in Canada reported daily use, said Edward
Adlaf, research scientist with the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health
and a research director on the project.

Changing Norms

"One reason we have more people reporting cannabis use is partly due to
changing norms and attitudes about cannabis that have occurred over the
last five to six years," Adlaf said, noting the shift is mostly in young
adults thinking there are fewer risks in smoking dope.

It's an area Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse's director of research and
policy, Patricia Begin, wants to see further analysis of.

"That's one thing we'll definitely want to look at, because I think that
helps better target responses," Begin said.

About a third of cannabis users reported impaired control of some kind,
meaning they would like to cut down but haven't been successful.

Following pot, hallucinogens and cocaine ranked next with 11% of Canadians
reporting lifetime use.

In Ontario, 10.5% people reported having used hallucinogens and 8.7% using
coke.

In the past year, about 2% of Ontarians reported using an illicit drugs
other than marijuana.

Although strides have been made with drinking and driving in recent years,
the survey shows more and more Canadians are reporting being passengers
with drunk drivers -- now 18% compared to 8% reported in 1994.

A total of 13,909 Canadians age 15 and over participated in the survey,
with a minimum of 1,000 people in each province.

There were more than 400 individual items on the survey and Begin said
there are numerous outcomes that haven't been analyzed so far.

"I think that would be really, really helpful and important in terms of
public and health policy," Begin said.

Age, particularly looking at youth, and gender are areas Begin wants to see
investigated further.

"When we look at the data, age and sex, particularly males and males
between 18 and 24 years old are the major users and the heavy users," Begin
said.

[Sidebar]

Our Drugs Of Choice

Percentage of survey respondents who have used alcohol or other drugs in
the past year

ONTARIO

Alcohol 78.8%

Marijuana 12.4%

Cocaine 1.3%

Speed N/A

Ecstasy 1.2%

Hallucinogens N/A

CANADA

Alcohol 79.3%

Marijuana 14.1%

Cocaine 1.9%

Speed 0.8%

Ecstasy 1.1%

Hallucinogens 0.7%

Per cent of Canadians who have used one or more of the following illicit
drugs: Cocaine, speed, ecstasy, hallucinogens or heroin 16.5%

Per cent of Canadians who have used cannabis or any of the above drugs 45.1%

Per cent of lifetime users of illicit drugs users in Canada who've
experienced harm to:

Physical health 15.1%

Home life or marriage 8.7%

Work, study or employment opportunities 9.2%

Financial position 8.4%

Legal problems 4.2%