FEWER N.S. TEENS SMOKING TOBACCO, BUT MARIJUANA USE CONSTANT: STUDY

HALIFAX -- Near a downtown high school at lunch hour, a half-dozen
teenagers cluster in a parking lot against the freezing cold, cigarettes
bobbing in their chattering teeth.

Five of the six are smoking. The lone abstainer, a 17-year-old named
Robert, says he has never tried tobacco, although he does occasionally
smoke marijuana.

"I don't like cigarettes, but I don't care if my friends smoke them," he
said with a shrug. "It's their choice."

According to a study released yesterday by the Nova Scotia Health
Department, many young people are making a different choice, but like
Robert, only when it comes to tobacco.

Cigarette smoking among teenagers in the province has fallen to its lowest
level in more than a decade, to 23 per cent from 36 per cent in 1998,
although the same kids are smoking marijuana as often as they were four
years ago.

Robert said he hates the smell of cigarettes, but loves the "sweet" scent
of marijuana.

"Smoking dope is no big deal," said his buddy, a 17-year-old named Steven.
"Sure, tobacco will kill you. I'm going to quit soon. But pot's not too bad
for you."

This worries Dr. Christiane Poulin, the author of the study from Dalhousie
University. "We are not consistent in our messages about cannabis," she
said. "Adolescents understand there is no way to use tobacco safely. We
need a consensus with where we want to go with cannabis in Canada."

She was referring to Ottawa's consideration of loosening marijuana laws.

The number of Nova Scotia teenagers who smoke marijuana has more than
doubled since 1991, when the province's first drug study found 17 per cent
admitted using marijuana.

The latest survey asked 4,247 students in junior and senior high school
about their experiences with drugs.

While less than a quarter admitted using tobacco, 52 per cent said they
drink alcohol and 36.5 per cent smoke marijuana.

Twenty-six per cent said they have driven a car while high and 15 per cent
admitted to driving drunk. Eight per cent said they have consumed alcohol
before or instead of breakfast. More than 4 per cent have taken the club
drug ecstasy. The use of cocaine, heroin and LSD is down, but use of
hallucinogens and stimulants is up.

More than 12 per cent of the respondents said they have taken psilocybin
mushrooms or mescaline, a hallucinogen that comes from the peyote cactus.
Thirteen per cent of students admitted using amphetamines not prescribed
for them. The drug of choice is Ritalin.

"There are kids who say they are pressured to sell the Ritalin they are
taking legitimately for ADD [attention deficit disorder] to other kids at
school who want to get high," said Suzanne Bailly, who runs Nova Scotia's
Addiction Prevention Treatment Services.

Forty per cent of the students surveyed said they did not smoke, drink or
use drugs of any kind.