Pubdate: Wed, 19 Nov 2003 Source: Hamilton Spectator (CN ON) Copyright: The Hamilton Spectator 2003 Contact: http://www.hamiltonspectator.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/181 Author: James McCarten Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mdma.htm (Ecstasy) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm (Cannabis - Canada) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth) ECSTASY USE DROPPING AMONG TEENS Adolescent drug use on a downswing but Ontario survey says binge drinking is a growing problem 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 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 6 per cent in 2001, he 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. Indeed, cannabis is more prevalent than tobacco at 19 per cent -- a far cry from 1999, when 28 per cent of respondents reported smoking cigarettes daily. Findings for 2003 are the lowest on record since 1977. "Most students do not use illicit drugs; indeed, about two-thirds have not used an illicit drug in the past year," Adlaf said. "Further, the majority of drug users who do report using drugs do so infrequently -- one or two times during the past year." Perceptions about the dangers of illicit drugs have been declining, while the availability of those drugs has increased, he noted. "Despite this downward trend, it is important to note that current rates generally exceed those found in the 1990s." 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. "We're particularly concerned that youth still do not recognize that binge drinking is a hazardous and serious threat to their health." Binge drinking is identified as a health indicator for young people in Canada because of its association with accidents and 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. "There are also other risk factors and implications of heavy drinking; it could be social issues, fights, aggression, date rape -- there are a number of issues that put youth at risk if in fact they're engaged in heavy drinking." Researchers also warned that cocaine use appears to be growing in popularity: 5 per cent of students reported using cocaine, compared with 3 per cent in 1999 and 1 per cent in 1993. Adlaf said it's possible that 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 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." One in five students reported driving after using marijuana, while one in seven admitted to drinking and driving, the survey found. Some 6,600 students in grades 7 through 12 across the province participated in the annual survey last spring. - --- MAP posted-by: Jackl