A recent Government survey on tobacco, alcohol and drug use among students suggests smoking among youth is on the decline.
The survey, known as the 2014-15 Canadian Student Tobacco, Alcohol and Drugs Survey (CSTADS) was conducted by a group at the University of Waterloo on behalf of Health Canada.
Janet Jackson, Public Health Manager with the Perth District Health Unit, says they have measures in place locally to help curb tobacco use among youth.
"We're in our schools ensuring that sellers, selling and supplying of tobacco isn't happening on school grounds, and we do have a 'Think Team' at the Perth District Health Unit that does do a lot of prevention activities with their peer groups to increase the awareness of the tactics that the tobacco industry does," says Jackson.
Nationally, more than 42,000 students between grade 6 and 12 responded to the survey.
Jackson notes that while numbers are not readily available for Perth County in particular, the report does shine some light on current trends surrounding youth involvement in tobacco, drugs and alcohol.
"It (the report) shows that in some drug uses we are seeing decreases in the high school population but in some that there is still a lot of work that needs to be done," adds Jackson.
