YOUTH SPURN SMOKES BUT TURN TO POT

Local News - While fewer Canadian young people are smoking cigarettes,
marijuana use among teens is on the rise, suggests a Queen's-led
report on health trends released yesterday.

The study, conducted by researchers at the university's Social Program
Evaluation Group, examined smoking, alcohol and drug use, physical
activity/body image, eating patterns, emotional health and injuries in
children aged 11 to 15.

Key factors that determine young people's health and well-being are
their relationships with family and friends, experiences at school and
family influence, concluded the study, which was based on
questionnaires given to more than 7,000 students aged 11, 13 and 15 in
grades 6 though 10.

The data was collected in February 2002 in school classrooms.

"This is a broad-based [study] so there are opportunities to see the
relationships between risk factors and some of those behaviours," said
Dr. William Boyce, director of the Social Program Evaluation Group,
who edited and contributed to the report.

One of the most surprising findings of the study, he said, was the
increasing prevalence of marijuana use among young people.

The survey found that half of all Grade 10 boys and 40 per cent of
Grade 10 girls had tried marijuana in the past year. For boys, this
represented a doubling of the rate from 1990 and an increase of six
per cent from 1998 to 2002.

The data is part of a World Health Organization survey of 35 countries
that found Canada to have the highest number of youth to have smoked
pot in the past year.

Second to Canada in this regard was Switzerland, which reported 37 per
cent of youth smoking pot in the last 12 months. The United States
reported 31 per cent of young people trying marijuana in the last year.

"Whichever way you look at the use of marijuana, whether it's kids who
used it in the last year or if they've ever used it, Canada is
certainly up there, along with Switzerland, England and the U.S.A.,"
said Boyce.

He identified three factors -- cost, availability and the country's
general attitude toward marijuana use -- that generally influence the
incidence of pot-smoking among youth in different parts of the world.

"Certainly in Canada, which has had legislation introduced in the last
Parliament to decriminalize marijuana use, [such things are] going to
have an influence on what kids think about it, whether they think it's
OK," he said.

"I don't think [marijuana] is going to replace smoking as a habit, but
it seems to be getting more popular as a leisure type thing."

Many Kingston students would agree.

Jesse Bryant, a Grade 11 student at Kingston Collegiate & Vocational
Institute, wasn't surprised by the incidence of pot smoking among
children reported in the survey.

"It's out there and I think it's just the cool thing for most kids,"
he told with The Whig-Standard outside the school yesterday.

Bryant said generally students smoke pot socially and do it away from
school property.

"It's mostly after hours," he said. "They wouldn't do it during school
because the smell would get around to the teachers and they would be
like, 'what's going on?' "

He estimates that while only 15 per cent of students smoke cigarettes,
about 40 per cent of students occasionally smoke pot.

It's pretty easy to get if you want it, he said.

Nicole Burns, an 18-year-old Regiopolis-Notre Dame Catholic High
School student, agrees.

She believes pot is becoming more popular than ever -- even among
those people who don't smoke cigarettes.

"It's very, very easy [to get]," she said.

She estimates that 75 per cent of students have tried the
drug.

But not all students agree that the rates are as high as the survey
results suggest.

Erin McNeely, a Grade 11 student at Regiopolis, was particularly
shocked by the reported incidence of pot smoking among young girls.

"I'm really surprised about the statistics that 40 per cent of Grade
10 girls have tried marijuana because in my experience, that is
definitely not the case," she said.

"I don't know of very many girls who have tried it, especially at that
age. It's very surprising to me."

However, she wasn't at all taken aback by the fact that pot use is on
the rise, while cigarette smoking is on the decline among young people.

She attributes the declining rates to public awareness campaigns about
the health hazards associated with cigarettes.

"There is such a huge campaign against smoking cigarettes these days,"
she said.

Other findings of the study include:

Daily cigarette smoking by Grade 10 girls decreased from 21 per
cent in 1998 to 11 per cent in 2002, while in boys it remained the
same at 15 per cent.

Between one-fifth and one-quarter of boys in each age group from
11 to 15-year-olds were classified as overweight or obese using the
Body Mass Index. Proportionally fewer girls -- less than one-fifth in
each of the age groups -- were overweight or obese.

Over one-third of boys and girls report being bullied in the past
couple of months and more than 20 per cent report being both bullies
and victims.

The results of the study will be used by various government agencies,
including Health Canada and the Public Health Agency of Canada. The
findings can influence public policy to address the challenges raised
in the study, such as high rates of obesity, sedentary behaviour,
marijuana use, stress related to relationships and dissatisfaction
with school.

Queen's researchers will be conducting a followup study in the fall of
2006 with the Ontario participants -- or about 2,200 youths -- who
answered the questionnaires in 2002. They'll be asked similar
questions in an attempt to explain trends.