TORONTO -- More Ontario high school students report driving after using marijuana than after having a few drinks, according to a province-wide study tracking substance use among students.
One in 10 drivers in Grades 10 to 12 reported getting behind the wheel within an hour of using marijuana at least once during the past year, the latest says.
That's compared with four per cent who reported doing so after having two or more drinks of alcohol, the data released Wednesday show.
More than 10,000 Ontario students in Grades 7 through 12 from close to 200 schools participated in this year's study. They answered anonymous questionnaires between November of last year and March.
The survey, administered by York University's Institute for Social Research for the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, has been conducted every two years since 1977.
It found that in recent years, only the percentage of students reporting they get high on over-the-counter cough and cold medication has increased significantly.
Just shy of one in 10 students -- 9.7 per cent -- reported abusing cold medication in the past year in 2013, up from 7.2 per cent in 2009, the study says.
Meanwhile, students' reported use of 13 other substances -- including alcohol, cigarettes, cocaine and methamphetamine -- has dropped significantly between 1999 and this year, it says.
Students in Grades 9 through 12 also reported less non-medical use of prescription drugs: 15.2 per cent this year from 23.5 in 2007.
And more students reported abstaining from drugs, alcohol and tobacco altogether in the past year than they did in 1999 -- 37 per cent, up from 27 per cent.
"Alcohol use has been declining gradually since about 1999 and has shown a further decline between 2011 and 2013, reaching a historically low level," the study reads.
About half the respondents reported drinking alcohol in the past year, and one in five reported binge drinking in that time, it says. Binge drinking is defined as consuming five or more drinks on one occasion.
By comparison, nearly a quarter of the respondents reported using marijuana in the past year, and about three per cent reported using it daily.
Caffeinated energy drinks were also popular among those surveyed, with about 40 per cent saying they had at least one in the past year and 12 per cent saying they had at least one in the past week, the report says.
Boys were more likely than girls to report using energy drinks, marijuana, over-the-counter drugs, a hookah pipe, smokeless tobacco, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder medication, methamphetamines or hallucinogens like mushrooms or salvia in the last year.
The study also shows reported use of most drugs, with the exception of inhalants, was more prevalent in higher grades.
What substances do Ontario high school students report using?
TORONTO -- The Ontario Student Drug Use and Health Survey asked students in Grades 7 through 12 to report their substance use in the past year. More than 10,000 students from across the province participated in this year's study. Here is what the survey found:
- 49.5 per cent used alcohol
- 39.7 per cent used high-caffeine energy drinks
- 23 per cent used marijuana
- 19.8 per cent binge drank, defined as consuming five or more drinks in one sitting
- 12.4 per cent used opioid painkillers without a prescription
- 9.7 per cent used over-the-counter cough or cold medication to get high
- 9.7 per cent used a hookah
- 8.5 per cent smoked cigarettes
- 5.7 per cent used smokeless (chewing) tobacco
- 3.4 per cent used inhalants such as glue and solvents
- 2.6 per cent used salvia divinorum, a hallucinogen
- 1.6 per cent used OxyContin or its replacement OxyNeo
- 1.4 per cent used medication for attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder
- 9.7 per cent of drivers got behind the wheel within an hour of using marijuana
- 4 per cent of drivers got behind the wheel after having two or more drinks of alcohol
Source: Centre for Addiction and Mental Health
