Pubdate: Fri, 08 Dec 2006
Source: Review, The (CN ON)
Copyright: 2006 Osprey Media Group Inc.
Contact:  http://www.niagarafallsreview.ca
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2907
Author: Tony Ricciuto

MANY YOUNG ADULTS USING POT BEFORE TOBACCO: STUDY

Some young people start off by smoking marijuana before they try 
cigarettes, says Dr. Scott Leatherdale, researcher at Cancer Care 
Ontario, University of Waterloo and University of Toronto.

That's quite the opposite of how things used to be years ago.

"We do have some evidence that shows there is a population of kids 
who use marijuana before tobacco," said Leatherdale, who was in 
Niagara Falls speaking at the Ontario Tobacco Control conference held 
at the Sheraton on the Falls.

There are other kids who will try marijuana and tobacco at about the same time.

More than 550 tobacco control health professionals, members of health 
organizations and other interested individuals are attending the 
three-day conference that began Monday.

According to a 2004 Canadian Tobacco Use Monitoring Survey, there has 
been a steady increase in marijuana use over the past decade.

In 1994, 28 per cent of Canadian young adults 18 years and older 
reported using marijuana at least once in their life. Today, that 
number has increased to 45 per cent. Fourteen per cent reported using 
marijuana this past year, indicating a seven per cent increase since 1994.

"We're doing more and more research with young adults in the area of 
tobacco control. The more we talk to them about tobacco use, the more 
we hear about marijuana use, so we decided to look at that," said Leatherdale.

Despite the obvious problem of increased usage, he added, there is 
the issue of using tobacco in joints or pipe smoking to assist in 
burning or enhancing the effect of the marijuana.

Leatherdale said there is a misconception that marijuana use is 
healthier than tobacco and that may not be the case. There is limited 
data available to actually make that determination.

"It's likely that it will have the same negative health effects 
because it is a combustible product that is inhaled," said Leatherdale.

In 2004, approximately 1.9 million Canadians between the ages of 15 
and 24 reported trying marijuana and 1.1 million reported using in 
the last year.

While 590,000 reported using pot three or less times per month, 
430,000 of all young adults reported using marijuana weekly or daily.

Leatherdale said another big problem is young adults from rural 
communities experiment more with substances like this and have a 
higher frequency of use than young adults from urban communities.

In addition, studies also indicate a substantial number of former 
smokers reported using marijuana, which may cause a relapse to 
tobacco addiction.
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