Study Links Tobacco Use with Pot
A report by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University, in the U.S., surveyed 1,987 teens to see if there is a link between tobacco and pot use with teenagers. The study showed cigarette smokers are 14 times more likely to try pot. Among teens surveyed that had tried pot, 57 per cent smoked cigarettes first, 29 per cent never smoked cigarettes and 13 per cent tried pot and cigarettes at the same time. When asked, 77 per cent of teens perceived a link between tobacco and pot use.
Source: Associated Press
Boys Waiting to Have Sex
A study by the Council of Ministers of Education reveals that more Canadian boys are waiting (willingly or unwillingly) to have sex for the first time. About 20 per cent of boys in Grade 9 and about 40 per cent of boys in Grade 11 reported to have had sexual intercourse at least once; a decline of just under nine per cent from an earlier study in 1989. However, little change was reported in the girls’ statistics.
Source: Canadian Press
Teenage Girl Confesses to Poisoning Classmates
A 15-year-old girl from Tokyo, Japan admitted to mailing her teacher and 26 classmates bottles of cresol, a highly lethal disinfectant. Attached to the bottles were handwritten notes stating the brown liquid was a diet drink that had to be taken in one gulp. Only one person drank the toxic liquid and was hospitalized with a badly burned throat. The girl told police it was a prank because cresol has a strong smell she didn’t expect anyone to drink it.
Source: CNN
TV May Encourage Teen Smoking
A survey by the National Health Institute in Rome revealed that Italian teens may start smoking to copy celebrities. The survey, which involved 498 teens between the ages of 13 and 17, also discovered that 12 per cent of the teens were smokers, with 16 and 17-year-olds most likely to smoke. It also found that the average teen smokes about seven cigarettes a day and 35 per cent buy them from vending machines.
Source: Reuters Health
Eat More Junk Food?
After fainting up to three times a day, for the past four years, 18-year-old Ashley Clark of Leeds, England has been ordered by doctors to eat more cakes, burgers and fatty foods, to help him stop fainting. Ashley’s condition is described as vasovagal syncope syndrome, a condition that causes fainting if blood pressure and heart rate are too low, thus starving the brain of oxygen. Ashley’s junk food diet aims to boost his intake of salt. There is increasing medical evidence that low salt levels can lead to low blood pressure, which can trigger a blackout.
Source: BBC
Skipping School
According to a study released by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, one in four Canadian teens miss class regularly, making Canada one of the higher school-absence rates in the developed world. Israel was found at the top of the list, with 45 per cent of teens missing class regularly, while China was the most diligent, with only 3 per cent absent teens. Canada finished 14th worst, with 26 per cent of teen students missing classes. Educators fear students who don’t attend school regularly will have problems pursuing higher education or holding down jobs.
Source: Globe and Mail
‘Suicide bomber’ teen girls in court
Three 14 year old girls, two of them twin sisters, were charged with planning suicide attacks on a supermarket that sells alcohol in Rabat and on members of the Moroccan royal family. The police say the girls were members of a larger group of radicals arrested just days before the thwarted attack. The planned alleged suicide bombing was brought to the attention of police when the girls went to their local Islamic preacher to give their bombing plans his blessing. It has been reported that the girls had received little education and have been living in poverty. Morocco is still reeling from a suicide bombing earlier in year that killed 45 people in Casablanca.
Source: BBC
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