ONE IN FOUR KIDS GETS DRUNK BY AGE 15: SURVEY

TORONTO -- A first-ever look at alcohol and drug use among young Canadians
by the country's statistics collectors reveals a few things 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 -- 1998-99 in this
instance. The analysis was based on responses from 4,296 adolescents, their
parents and 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.

"Girls are clearly catching up," he said.