ECSTASY USE DROPPING AMONG TEENS

Adolescent drug use on a downswing but Ontario survey says binge drinking
is a growing problem

As is the case with most illicit drugs, the use of ecstasy is on the wane
among students in Ontario, but binge drinking remains a problem, the Centre
for Addiction and Mental Health reported yesterday.

"The escalating trend in adolescent drug use that we have been following
since the early 1990s has subsided, and there is some evidence of a
downward movement," said Dr. Edward Adlaf, the lead researcher on the
annual Ontario Student Drug Use Survey.

"The 2003 survey is (also) the first to show a decline in the use of ecstasy."

Ecstasy use among students in 2003 was 4.1 per cent, compared with 6 per
cent in 2001, he said.

Just 15 per cent of students reported using an illicit drug other than
cannabis in 2003, compared with 21 per cent in 2001. And while cannabis
rates have been steady for several years, they're still high: 28 per cent
compared with just 12 per cent 10 years ago.

Indeed, cannabis is more prevalent than tobacco at 19 per cent -- a far cry
from 1999, when 28 per cent of respondents reported smoking cigarettes
daily. Findings for 2003 are the lowest on record since 1977.

"Most students do not use illicit drugs; indeed, about two-thirds have not
used an illicit drug in the past year," Adlaf said.

"Further, the majority of drug users who do report using drugs do so
infrequently -- one or two times during the past year."

Perceptions about the dangers of illicit drugs have been declining, while
the availability of those drugs has increased, he noted. "Despite this
downward trend, it is important to note that current rates generally exceed
those found in the 1990s."

Among the survey's more troubling findings, however, was the 25 per cent of
students who admitted to at least one drinking binge in 2003, compared with
just 15 per cent 10 years earlier. Binge drinking is the consumption of
five or more drinks in a single sitting.

"Clearly, alcohol and binge drinking continues to be a problem," said Peter
Coleridge, the centre's vice-president of communications, education and
community health.

"We're particularly concerned that youth still do not recognize that binge
drinking is a hazardous and serious threat to their health."

Binge drinking is identified as a health indicator for young people in
Canada because of its association with accidents and injuries, said Andrea
Stevens-Lavigne, the centre's director of communications, education and
community health.

"It is also an indicator of future problems with youth in terms of having
alcohol problems down the road as adults," Stevens-Lavigne said.

"There are also other risk factors and implications of heavy drinking; it
could be social issues, fights, aggression, date rape -- there are a number
of issues that put youth at risk if in fact they're engaged in heavy drinking."

Researchers also warned that cocaine use appears to be growing in
popularity: 5 per cent of students reported using cocaine, compared with 3
per cent in 1999 and 1 per cent in 1993.

Adlaf said it's possible that high-profile incidents of young people dying
from ecstasy use in recent years has hurt the drug's popularity, leaving
some young people to turn to cocaine.

"Now, ecstasy is perceived as being a much more risky adventure, and in the
interim, cocaine has risen somewhat, so we have a little bit of perhaps a
substitution occurring."

One in five students reported driving after using marijuana, while one in
seven admitted to drinking and driving, the survey found.

Some 6,600 students in grades 7 through 12 across the province participated
in the annual survey last spring.