COUNCILLORS QUESTION A DRUG STUDY

Some city councillors were left with more questions than answers Monday
night after hearing the results of a survey on drug and alcohol use by
Lower Mainland youth.

Tom Hetherington, a former TEAM Burnaby and B.C. Green candidate, is a drug
addictions manager with the Surrey-based Pacific Community Resources Society.

In a presentation to council, Hetherington outlined the findings of a
report released last November, derived from submissions by a sample group
of 1,936 males and females aged 12 to 24 living throughout the region.

At the time the survey was taken, 40 per cent of Burnaby youth had used
marijuana in the past month, 60 per cent had used alcohol and nine per cent
had used ecstasy.

Even more disturbing was reported usage of speed (7.0 per cent), cocaine
(5.6 per cent) and heroin (1.4 per cent).

"This is not a scientific study, but it's a starting point," Hetherington
said. "We wanted to present a picture of what's going on out there."

Coun. Pietro Calendino, a Delta school teacher by day, appeared neither
shocked nor impressed by the findings.

"Kids in high school do drugs, we're all aware of that," Calendino said.
"What's new here?"

But Hetherington said the PCRS report was one of the first in the Lower
Mainland to look outside of the high school age bracket and examine "a much
bigger picture."

"To my knowledge, this is the first time that anyone has taken a look at
this age category like this," Hetherington said. "This report is not
exclusive to high school. There's some patterns emerging here we should be
concerned about."

Since the report suggested that alcohol was a "gateway drug" leading to
other forms of substance abuse, Coun. Nick Volkow questioned whether the
society had an official position on the B.C. government's plans to
privatize liquor distribution.

When Hetherington said no, Volkow seemed somewhat surprised.

Volkow also expressed disappointment that data had yet to be extrapolated
from the study's questionnaire on youth perception of drug use and methods
of stopping it.

"It's a shame you don't have this information," Volkow said. "It would be
certainly interesting to see."

Hetherington said a followup study due out in the coming months may address
some of the questions posed by council.

"The information's there, we just need to pull it out," Hetherington said.
"The tank has just run out of gas at the moment, but our next report should
answer those questions."

The survey is available online at www.pcrs.ca.