Consequences of Substance Use 

Because older teens are more likely to use substances, a larger percentage also reported negative consequences from substance use. As Figure 1 indicates, around 40% of 18-year-old students had experienced at least one related consequence while less than 5% of students aged 12 or younger reported any harms related to substance use in the past year.

Risky Alcohol and Marijuana Use 

One quarter of all students in BC drank alcohol the Saturday prior to filling out the survey. These students were divided into low-risk drinkers (one or two drinks), elevated-risk drinkers (three or four drinks), high-risk drinkers (between five and 10 drinks) and the highest-risk highest-risk drinkers (more than 10 drinks). About 17% of students fell within the two highest-risk categories of drinking last Saturday while just fewer than 9% reported low- or elevated-risk drinking the previous Saturday.

Students Who Have Ever Tried Substances 

Alcohol emerged as the most commonly tried substance by BC youth at all ages between 1998 and 2008. However, overall rates of students’ ever trying alcohol, marijuana and tobacco in BC have been steadily declining over the last 10 years. The AHS IV showed that fewer young people had tried alcohol at some point than in earlier surveys.