ECSTASY USE DROPPING FOR ONTARIO STUDENTS

An Annual Study Shows A Worrying Trend Toward An Increase In Binge
Drinking.

TORONTO -- 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 centre's
senior scientist and 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 six
per cent in 2001, Adlaf 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.

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

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.

Binge drinking is identified as a health indicator for young people in
Canada because of its association with 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.

Researchers also warned cocaine use appears to be growing in
popularity: five per cent of students reported using cocaine, compared
with three per cent in 1999 and one per cent in 1993.

Adlaf said it's possible 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 instead 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."