STUDY FINDS TEENS TRY DRUGS, ALCOHOL EARLY

The average age for first drinks was about 12, the Statistics Canada survey
says.

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 number of kids are 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 yesterday.

"It's that simple."

The figures were contained in an article published yesterday 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. The analysis was based on responses from 4,296
adolescents, 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 use 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.

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

Wolfe found no surprise there, saying 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.

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

But the authors were quick to note they couldn't tell if this was a case of
kids influencing other kids or whether like-minded kids were being drawn
together because they shared the same view of drinking and using drugs. Kids
from families with a step-parent were twice as likely to use drugs as kids
who lived with both biological parents.