摘要：Introduction: Ongoing surveillance of youth substance use is essential to quantify harms
and to identify populations at higher risk. In the Canadian context, historical and structural
injustices make monitoring excess risk among Indigenous youth particularly
important. This study updated national prevalence rates of tobacco, alcohol, and marijuana
use among Indigenous and non-Indigenous students.
Methods: Differences in tobacco, alcohol, and marijuana use were examined, using
logistic regression, among 1700 Indigenous and 22 800 non-Indigenous youth in Grades
9–12 who participated in the 2014/15 Canadian Student Tobacco, Alcohol and Drugs
Survey. Differences by sex were also examined. Mean age of first alcohol and marijuana
use was compared in the two populations using OLS regression. Results were compared
to 2008/09 data.
Results: While smoking, alcohol, and marijuana rates have decreased compared to
2008/09 in both populations, the gap between the populations has mostly not. In
2014/15, Indigenous youth had higher odds of smoking (odds ratio [OR]: 5.26; 95%
confidence interval [CI]: 3.54–7.81) and past-year drinking (OR: 1.43; 95% CI: 1.16–
1.76) than non-Indigenous youth. More Indigenous than non-Indigenous youth
attempted quitting smoking. Non-Indigenous males were less likely to have had at least
one drink in the past-year compared to non-Indigenous females. Indigenous males and
females had higher odds of past-year marijuana use than non-Indigenous males (OR:
1.84; 95% CI: 1.32–2.56) and females (OR: 2.87; 95% CI: 2.15–3.84). Indigenous youth,
especially males, drank alcohol and used marijuana at younger ages.
Conclusion: Additional policies and programs are required to help Indigenous youth be
successful in their attempts to quit smoking, and to address high rates of alcohol and
marijuana use.
关键词：adolescent; alcohol drinking; smoking; cannabis smoking; Indigenous population
