INCREASE IN TEEN DRUG USE STALLS, SURVEY FINDS

Ontario teenagers are still using more drugs than they did a decade ago,
but the massive increases seen since in the 1990s have slowed, a new report
suggests.

"The escalating trend in drug use, which began in the early 1990s, has
generally subsided," said Dr. Edward Adlaf, senior scientist at the Centre
for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto, which conducted the study.

The 2001 Ontario Student Drug Use Survey is the first survey to reveal no
major increases in teen drug use in Ontario since 1991, the centre said
Monday. But it does show that students are still drinking and using a wide
variety of drugs.

The most popular drug was clearly alcohol, with 65 per cent of students
from Grade 7 to 13 saying they drank, and a full 80 per cent of Grade 12
students saying they used alcohol. (The drinking age in Ontario is 19, so
some students in Grade 13 or the Ontario Academic Credit (OAC) year can
legally buy and consume alcohol.) Almost 44 per cent of Grade 13s said they
smoked marijuana, however.

Overall, 28.6 per cent of the students surveyed said they had used
marijuana, up considerably from the 12.7 per cent figure found in 1993.

The study surveyed 4,211 students in spring of 2001