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A new study from the University of Waterloo has found one in three high school students has ridden with a driver who has been drinking.
The research also found about 9% of Grade 11 and 12 students had driven within an hour of drinking alcohol.
“This research is drawn from the Canadian Student Tobacco, Alcohol and Drugs Survey, we surveyed about 25,000 kids from across Canada in all 10 provinces from grades 9 to 12,” said Leia Minaker, lead author on the paper and an assistant professor at the University of Waterloo.
Boys were more likely to drive after drinking or using marijuana, while girls were more likely to have been passengers of drivers who had been drinking.
Students in rural areas are also at a greater risk of drinking and driving than students from larger urban centres, the survey found.
The survey showed driving under the influence of marijuana continues to be an issue with Canadian teens as well.
Nearly one in five teenagers have been in a car with a driver who has smoked marijuana, while 9% of Grade 11 and 12 students had driven within two hours of smoking marijuana.
“This is certainly a public health problem because motor vehicle collisions are actually the leading cause of death among the age group of 16- to 25-year-olds and alcohol and drug impairment factors into just over half of those deaths,” said lead author Leia Minaker.
“As the federal government and the provinces deal with the legalization and regulation of recreational marijuana use, they’re going to need to address youth access as well.”
The study was recently published in Canadian Medical Association Journal Open.
Click here to read Minaker’s Under the Influence study and its findings.
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