Promoting healthy choices: The importance of differentiating between ordinary and high risk cannabis use among high-school students

Education can affect the lives of adolescents by reinforcing healthy choices and promoting a healthy lifestyle. However, difficulties experienced in the school and family environments may interfere with these goals. This may be particularly true for those youth already participating in health-compromising behaviors such as drug use. Of course, patterns of drug use take many forms, and some are more serious than others. Youth using cannabis at more intensive levels have often been overlooked in the literature. This paper, based on 1997 data, addressed this gap by examining the effects of individual and cumulative school and family factors on not only the probability of any cannabis use but also the progression to problem use among 1980 Ontario students. The results suggested that disrupted family structure increased the likelihood of cannabis use in general. However, patterns of problem use were displayed among youth experiencing problems in school and poor family relationships. As anticipated, adolescents experiencing multiple school and fancily factors were also significantly more likely to engage in cannabis use, and in its more serious form, when controlling for other demographic predictors. The implications for health promotion initiatives in the school are discussed.