DRUGS EASY TO FIND, STUDENT TELLS CONFERENCE

She doesn't use it herself, but if Kristine Taylor ever wanted to try
marijuana, she said it wouldn't be much of a hassle finding it.

"It would take about 10 seconds," the Maple High School student said.

"In school, people know the ones who have it and so they can go and find
that person."

As for why nobody thinks of turning the dealers in, she asks, why would they?

"The students that know, they don't care," she said.

"If they don't do it, they don't bother with that person. And if they do do
it, they're not going to go and tell on that person."

Ms Taylor was one of about 250 students who attended the Youth Summit on
Cannabis at Pierre Elliott Trudeau High School in Markham Wednesday, the
first event of its kind in Canada.

Students from public, Catholic and private high schools across York Region
were brought together with doctors, police officers and youth workers to
discuss the legal and health risks involved in using marijuana.

"We're having an open dialogue with young people about a substance that,
other than medical use, at this point is, in fact, still illegal," said
Patricia Scott-Jeoffroy of York Region Health Services, one of the
organizers of the event.

"We're struggling with things appearing to be changing every day and so
we've come together to discuss what is true, what is myth, what is fact."

Many students said they were surprised the speakers did not come out
preaching about the evils of marijuana.

For instance, Stephen Meredith, an outreach worker with the Centre for
Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) in Toronto, spoke frankly with students
about marijuana's relative harmlessness in relation to tobacco and alcohol,
which both kill far more people than all illegal drugs combined.

Still, he said, "there are not a lot of organic substances you can light on
fire, suck it into your body and not have problems with."

Research shows it's a message more young people need to hear.

A 2001 CAMH study of student drug use found:

. almost 30 per cent of students in grades 7 to OAC reported using
marijuana in the past year, compared to 23.6 per cent who reported smoking
cigarettes;

. 22 per cent of marijuana users reported lighting up more than 40 times
per year; and

. Student use in Ontario has increased every year since 1991 and is
currently the highest rate on record.

An updated study, expected to show even higher usage rates, will be
released by the end of this month.

Kristen LeFave, a Grade 12 student at Huron Heights Secondary School in
Newmarket, said the event was an eye-opener for her.

"Especially that quote about how smoking four or five joints is like
smoking 20 cigarettes," she said.

"I was like, wow, I would never have thought that."

The hope among organizers is the students will go back to their schools
armed with information they will pass on to their friends, but some
students expressed skepticism events such as this would work without some
follow-up.

"I went to a bullying conference last year and we didn't end up doing
anything with the information we learned," Ms Taylor said.

Ironically, the conferance was held on the same day York Regional Police,
acting on a tip from Markham Hydro, discovered 512 marijuana plants, worth
more than $500,000, and marijuana-growing equipment in a Soho Crescent
house in Markham, just three kilometres from Pierre Elliott Trudeau High.

No one was home at the time and police are seeking suspects. Anyone with
information is asked to call 905-881-1221 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS.