Local underage drinking rates drop, still higher than Ontario average

It appears youth drinking rates are going down in Thunder Bay, if only ever so slightly. But they aren’t keeping up with provincial rates.

According to preliminary figures released by the Thunder Bay District Health Unit, 64.4 per cent of students in Grades 7 to 12 admitted alcohol consumption, down 0.7 of a percentage point over 2005 figures.

Province-wide the figure fell from 62 per cent to 58.2 per cent.

In the binge drinking category – having five or more drinks in one sitting – 29.9 per cent of Thunder Bay students acknowledged they’d qualified, down from 34 per cent five years ago when the last Northwestern Ontario Drug Use Study was conducted.

The city fared a little better than the provincial drop in this category. Across Ontario 22 per cent of students admitted to binge drinking, down from 24.7 per cent.

Patty Hajdu, the drug strategy co-ordinator for the Thunder Bay District Health Unit, said while it’s encouraging to see the number of drinkers decreasing with time, there’s still plenty of work to be done to catch up to other regions of the province.

"Our preliminary numbers show we continue the trend of having more youth that drink than their Ontario counterparts, and also more youth that binge drink," Hajdu said.

However, there is no real secret behind why the rates are higher for youth alcohol use – and any number of other lifestyle choices like smoking and drug abuse – in Thunder Bay.

"I think probably the answer is the same for all, that we are geographically isolated for one. Sometimes youth say there aren’t a lot of things to do. Northern Ontario has a strong culture of drinking and even adults in our core studies with the drug strategies that we’ve been doing are saying that even adults feel pressure to drink in social settings," Hajdu said.

She’d love to see the binge-drinking numbers in particular take a drastic drop the next time the survey is done.

While she readily admitted there is little or no way to stop teens from partying it up with their friends, Hajdu said better safe than sorry is a philosophy they should live by.

It explains some of the strategies they’ve put in place to deal with the problem.

"Some of the efforts that we’ve been conducting over the years with youth have been to try and really reduce harm associated with drinking. We know that kids are going to go out and party. We definitely have initiatives that try to prevent kids from doing that too young, or to even make different choices," she said.

"But we also recognize that kids are going to drink, so how can we protect our youth while they’re doing that?"

One way is to provide education about what to do if a friend appears to be suffering from alcohol poisoning.

The Health Unit also offers a combination of programming in partnership with outside agencies.

"Some of it is school-based, where we go out and do presentations. Sometimes they’re one-off presentations … But we also do programming that helps support kids to make healthier choices," she said.

"Some examples of that are the Natural Helpers Programming that helps students identify their peers who are helpers. Then we provide those helpers with training so they can help their peers with better decisions."

The full Northwestern Ontario Student Drug Use Strategy Report is expected to be delivered early next year.