TEENS TRYING BOOZE, DRUGS EARLY, STUDY SAYS

StatsCan's First-Ever Look Finds Troubling Trends Among Young

TORONTO - A first-ever look at alcohol and drug use among young Canadian
teenagers by the country's statistics collectors reveals a few things some
parents might find unsettling.

A significant proportion of kids is getting an early start on experimenting
with illicit substances, suggests the survey, the first time Statistics
Canada has asked 12- to 15-year-olds about drinking and drugs.

Nearly half reported they'd had at least one drink and nearly a quarter
admitted they'd been drunk at least once. One in five confessed to having
smoked marijuana.

The youngest children in the survey sample weren't asked about
hallucinogens, but 11 per cent of the 14- and 15-year-olds reported having
tried these drugs.

Because this is the first look at this age group, the authors can't say
whether those figures are higher or lower than previous generations of
young teens. But an expert in the field said the age of experimentation has
dropped over the past decade.

And that's worrisome, said David Wolfe, a specialist in child psychology
and child abuse at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto.

"The younger you experiment with either sex, with substances and any other
adult privileges, the greater the chances that you're going to get into
trouble," Wolfe said Tuesday.

"It's that simple."

The figures were contained in an article published Tuesday in Health
Reports, a regular publication released by Statistics Canada.

The data were drawn from the national longitudinal survey of children and
youth, which follows a representative group of children from across the
country every two years. These data were drawn from the survey cycle
conducted in 1998-99. The analysis was based on responses from 4,296
adolescents, their parents and their teachers.

Of those young teens who did drink, the average age at which they first
imbibed was 12.4 years; the average age at which they first got drunk was
13.2 years. They first used drugs, on average, somewhere between 13.1 years
and 13.8 years of age, depending on the drug.

There was little difference between the usage patterns of kids living in
rural and urban settings, a fact that surprised lead author Tina Hotton, an
analyst with Statistic Canada's centre for justice statistics.

"I think that there's a myth that drug use is an urban problem," she said
in an interview.

Hotton was also surprised that there didn't appear to be a gender gap:
girls were as likely to experiment as boys.

Wolfe found no surprise there, saying that while girls once lagged behind
boys in illicit behaviours such as drug use and smoking, that's no longer
the case.

Peer pressure appeared to play a role. Kids who hung around with kids who
drank or used drugs were much more likely than others their age to drink
alcohol or take drugs.