News Release Archive
NEWS RELEASE (CNS825) -->> HEALTH--STUDENT DRUG USE 1996 SURVEY FINDINGS ANNOUNCED HEALTH--STUDENT DRUG USE 1996 SURVEY FINDINGS ANNOUNCED ----------------------------------------------------------------- The percentage of Nova Scotia's junior and senior high school students reporting no drug use whatsoever has remained stable at 37 per cent since 1991 according to the results of the Nova Scotia Student Drug Use 1996 Survey released today by the Department of Health in conjunction with Drug Awareness Week. The drug use survey is the first time the Department of Health has collected such extensive data on the prevalence of drug use by youth. An earlier, more restricted survey was conducted in Nova Scotia in 1991. The same 1996 drug use survey was also conducted in New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador and Prince Edward Island as part of a joint project to gather standardized data for comparative use. It is the first time in Canada a region has combined resources and expertise to look at the status of youth drug use. "We will use the information we now have as benchmark data to determine how to best address the issue of youth drug use in Nova Scotia," said Brian Wilbur, director, drug dependency services, Nova Scotia Department of Health. "It is a first for the province and will help us to work with communities, students, parents and others to address this health concern." The data collected from the survey is being shared among the four provinces, with government and non-government organizations, school boards, school councils and the regional health boards. Some of the key findings of the survey include: - the use of alcohol, inhalants, prescription tranquillizers, cocaine, heroin and barbiturates has been stable in Nova Scotia since 1991; - more students in Nova Scotia are using cigarettes, cannabis, LSD, stimulants, psilocybin or mescaline, non-prescribed tranquillizers and PCP since 1991. There is also an increase in the number of students individually reporting using all three of the most common drugs -- alcohol, tobacco and cannabis; - 54 per cent of students in nova Scotia drank alcohol at least once in the last 12 months, which is consistent with the 1991 findings and is similar with all four provinces; - 35 per cent of students in Nova Scotia smoked cigarettes during the last 12 months, which is similar with the other provinces; - four per cent of students surveyed indicated that they needed help with alcohol and drug related problems and two per cent said they got help; - 80 per cent of junior high and 50 per cent of senior high students in Nova Scotia recall classes on drug education. The 1996 drug use survey also asked questions about risk behaviour related to drug use such as being a passenger with an impaired driver. Thirty one per cent of students surveyed reported being passengers with a driver who had too much to drink. The changing adolescent drug using pattern is very similar to changes reported in other Canadian and international studies. The Nova Scotia Student Drug Use 1996 Survey was a self-reported confidential and anonymous questionnaire conducted in the classroom by research assistants. Approximately 14,000 students participated in the survey in the Atlantic Provinces including 3,790 in Nova Scotia. The data was collected in March, 1996. The survey was an initiative of the Nova Scotia Department of health drug dependency Services in collaboration with the Department of Education and Culture and the Department of Community Health and Epidemiology at Dalhousie University. Interprovincial partners were the Departments of Health drug dependency services and the Departments of Education in New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador and Prince Edward Island. Support for the standardization of the survey was supplied by the National Health Research Development Program. Copies of the Nova Scotia Student Drug Use 1996 Survey Technical Report are available at the Nova Scotia Government Bookstore, 1700 Granville St., Halifax, phone (toll-free) 1-800-526-6575 or 424-7580. -30- Contact: Sue McKeage 902-424-3581 trp Nov. 20, 1996 - 2:45 p.m.