TOKING AND DRIVING BIG AMONG STUDENTS

Study Shows Pot Taking Toll on Youths' Health

MARIJUANA USE among Toronto students is at an all-time high and it's
affecting everything from their driving to their long-term health,
according to figures found in a drug-use study unveiled yesterday. Almost
14% of 288 students with a valid drivers licence questioned in a 2003
survey reported driving a motor vehicle under the influence of pot, Dr. Ed
Adlaf of the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health said yesterday.

"We also have to recognize the concern for accidents could actually go
beyond that," Adlaf said. "We have almost 30% of students report being a
passenger when a driver has used marijuana within the past hour."

New Area of Study

The statistics can be found in a compilation of the most recent drug-use
studies entitled Drug Use in Toronto 2004 released by The Research Group on
Drug Use, a group made up of city and provincial health organizations.

This area of study is relatively new so there aren't any stats to indicate
whether the behaviour is a worsening trend, Adlaf said.

But the same study indicates the total number of students in Grade 7, 9 and
11 who said they've tried pot in the previous year was at 23%, a 1% jump
over the previous 2001 study.

Only 8% said they had smoked up in the 1991 and '93 studies, the low mark
since the 22% reported in the late 1970s when the study began.

The Toronto numbers are lower than the province-wide total of 26% to 27%,
Adlaf said. Studies have shown the city's immigrant population tend not to
use illicit drugs, keeping the numbers lower.

Law enforcement is just learning to deal with the effects of toking and
driving on our roads with a national program underway to help police
identify drivers under the influence, said Det. Courtland Booth of Toronto
Police's drug squad.

Police Need Method

"Marijuana is being used, people are operating motor vehicles, there needs
to be a method for the police to detect this and then bring the evidence to
court," Booth said, adding a search warrant would be required under the
current law even to take a saliva sample to test for pot impairment.

East of Toronto -- where a 43-year-old woman was arrested last week for
driving while puffing pot with her two grandchildren in the car -- police
are also taking the training course.

Sgt. John Givelas of Durham Regional Police's traffic services said he
thinks the problem can be helped by letting both drivers and police know
about the effects of driving under the influence of drugs.

"It has always been a problem," Givelas said. "It's just a matter of being
aware of the problem."

Booth said he'd like to see increased public awareness that drinking and
driving can be just as bad as toking.