By Ashley Wiebe - CHAT News

Study finds cannabis use declining among teens

Aug 2, 2017 | 5:50 PM

MEDICINE HAT –  A Canadian study shows marijuana is the most commonly tried substance after alcohol, but it seems teens aren’t smoking it as much as they once were.

According to the Government of Canada survey, cannabis use peaked back in 2002 and has been declining ever since, now at the lowest level among boys and girls over the last 20 years.

The study was completed in 2014.

Students in grades nine and 10 were asked about cannabis and other substance use.

Back in 2002, 50 per cent of boys in grades nine and 10 reported trying marijuana compared to 40 per cent of girls who were surveyed.

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Since then, those numbers have dropped, only 23 per cent reported they tried it.

Here in Medicine Hat, police are seeing a similar trend.

In 2014, when the survey was done, officers laid eight possession charges on teens.

This year, they’ve only laid one.

In the last four years, they’ve only charged one teen with trafficking marijuana.

Inspector Joe West with the Medicine Hat Police Service said there’s been a major shift in the way people think about pot, especially now with the looming legalization expected next year.

“Marijuana being a gateway drug, it’s probably just as available now as it was several years ago,” he said. “However, attitudes are changing about it so police may not be getting as many calls about youths consuming marijuana in a public place.”

West said marijuana is still known to be the gateway drug, possibly opening the doors to other, harder drugs, like methamphetamine, which police are focused on getting off the streets.

But West doesn’t believe teens aren’t making that switch.

School resource officers spend a lot of time with students during the school year, offering the EPIC program to students in grades four, six and eight, which helps students better understand the dangers of drugs and alcohol.

West said while the service is focusing on keeping meth and meth dealers off the streets, cannabis is still on their radar.

While police do want to educate kids on the decisions they make, he said sometimes it’s better to involve the parents and not the justice system.

But that’s not always the case.

“If we can prove a good trafficking charge, we’re gonna lay the charge, that’s pretty black and white for us,” he said. “When it comes to consumption or possession of marijuana, we understand that’s probably a drug that teenagers are going to experiment with. [That] doesn’t take away from the health risks and the dangers of using marijuana, but we have to be realistic about it.”

West said he’s not expecting the EPIC program for students to change, despite the legalization of cannabis use expected in 2018.

“We realize that the legalization of marijuana is perhaps forthcoming, however, that doesn’t change the health risks and the dangers to youth and the research is in on that,” he added.