New Brunswick student drug use survey report 2012 : Rapport de l'enquête de 2012 sur la consommation de drogues chez les élèves du Nouveau-Brunswick

To assess the true scope of the problem – and develop appropriate responses – it is important to have reliable estimates of the prevalence of youth alcohol and drug use as well as associated harms, and identifi cation of high-risk groups within the youth population. [...] The goals of the survey were: • To obtain valid and timely epidemiological data about the use of alcohol, tobacco and other drugs for non-medical purposes among adolescent students across New Brunswick; • To improve understanding of the nature and patterns of adolescent substance use as well as gambling and other high-risk behaviors and harmful consequences related to that use; and • To measure st [...] The lower level of tobacco use among students in health region 6 refl ects patterns in the general population: the percentage of smokers of all ages in this region is signifi cantly lower than the provincial average (15 per cent compared to 22 per cent for all of New Brunswick in 2011) [13]. [...] Some fi ndings from the NBSUDS 2012 regarding levels and patterns of sexual activity in the 12 months before the survey: • About one-third of students (38 per cent) reported having engaged in sexual activity (vaginal, anal or oral sex) during the course of the previous year. [...] To produce unbiased estimates of substance use among students in the province, two-stage cluster sampling was used to randomly select schools and classes for inclusion in the survey, with schools treated as the fi rst stage of cluster and classes within the selected schools sampled as the second stage of cluster.