FEWEST TOKERS IN MANITOBA

Province Bucks Drug-Use Trend

The country may be going to pot, but Manitoba isn't. A Statistics
Canada report released yesterday found marijuana use is up everywhere
across the country except in the Keystone province.

In fact, there are fewer pot smokers per capita in Manitoba than
anywhere else in the country.

And no one can really explain why.

"I'm not really sure, but it did stick out," said Michael Tjepkema,
who authored the StatsCan report.

In 1994, the government agency found 7.4% of Canadians over 15
reported using cannabis within 12 months of being surveyed.

By 2002 that had increased to 12.2%, or about 3 million Canadians.

In 1994, about 9% of Manitobans reported using marijuana recently,
which at the time was above the national average.

BELOW NATIONAL AVERAGE

But our numbers remained virtually unchanged in 2002.

That year, 9.3% of Manitobans -- or 80,000 people reported using pot,
far below the national average, according to yesterday's report.

During their lifetimes, 29% of Manitobans -- or 251,000 people --
report having tried pot. That's also below the national average of
32%.

In addition, 11.7% of Manitobans reported having tried "other" illicit
drugs during their lifetime, including cocaine and ecstasy.

Chris Buors, a Winnipeg-based marijuana activist, said he believes the
cops and courts are tougher on pot smokers in Manitoba compared with
other provinces. That's preventing more people from sparking up, he
said.

"We're in the Bible Belt, and that's reflected in our courts," said
Buors, who once acted as the Marijuana Party's Prairie organizer.
"We're more conservative-minded here then, say, Torontonians or
Vancouverites."

While there are many grow ops busted in the city -- giving the
impression we may be big marijuana smokers -- much of that pot is sold
outside the province, Winnipeg Police spokesman Bob Johnson said.

"We have not seen an increase in charges of possession ... here
locally," Johnson said, noting police are seeking out pot smokers as
actively as ever.

British Columbia had the largest number of pot heads. Some 16% of
people in that province had sparked up within 12 months of the survey,
compared with 12% in 1994.