Alcohol, tobacco and cannabis use among Nova Scotia adolescents: implications for prevention and harm reduction
| Table 1: Drug use reported by students in grades 7, 9, 10 and 12 in Nova Scotia in the 12 months before being surveyed, 1991 and 1996 | ||||
| Drug* | % of students (and 95% confidence interval [CI]) | |||
| 1991 n = 3452 | 1996 n = 3790 |
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| Alcohol | 50.8 | (46.9-54.7) | 54.2 | (50.5-57.9) |
| Tobacco | 26.0 | (23.5-28.5) | 34.9‡ | (32.5-37.4) |
| Cannabis | 17.2 | (14.9-19.5) | 32.1‡ | (29.2-34.9) |
| LSD | 7.1 | (5.8-8.4) | 12.4‡ | (10.9-14.0) |
| Stimulant, nonprescription | 5.3 | (4.4-6.2) | 8.9§ | (7.6-10.2) |
| Stimulant, prescription | 3.2 | (2.6-3.8) | 4.9§ | (4.2-5.6) |
| Psilocybin/mescaline | 4.0 | (2.9-5.1) | 8.3‡ | (7.1-9.5) |
| Inhalant | 9.6 | (8.1-11.0) | 7.2 | (6.3-8.2) |
| Tranquilizer, prescription | 6.0 | (5.1-6.9) | 5.7 | (4.9-6.5) |
| Tranquilizer, nonprescription | 2.6 | (2.0-3.2) | 4.8§ | (3.9-5.7) |
| Cocaine/crack | 2.5 | (1.9-3.2) | 3.6 | (2.9-4.2) |
| Anabolic steroid | NA† | 2.8 | (2.3-3.4) | |
| PCP | 1.1 | (0.7-1.5) | 2.6§ | (2.0-3.3) |
| Heroin | 1.6 | (1.0-2.2) | 2.1 | (1.6-2.6) |
| Barbiturate, nonprescription | 2.3 | (1.7-2.9) | 1.8 | (1.3-2.2) |
| Barbiturate, prescription | 1.8 | (1.3-2.3) | 1.3 | (0.9-1.6) |
| *LSD = lysergic acid diethylamide, PCP = phencyclidine hydrochloride, "prescription" = drug used as prescribed, "nonprescription" = drug not prescribed or not used as prescribed.
†NA = not available. ‡p < 0.001. §p < 0.01. | ||||