A survey shows while Ontario adolescents are drinking, smoking, and using recreational drugs less -- some are now using fentanyl.
The 2017 survey released today by the Toronto-based Centre for Addiction and Mental Health shows almost one per cent of respondents in grades nine-to-12 reported taking illicit fentanyl in the previous year.
That figure is equivalent to about 5,800 students across the province, and raises a red flag given the opioid's involvement in hundreds of overdose deaths across the country.
This is the first time in the survey's 40-year history that respondents were asked about fentanyl use.
In the last 20 years, the proportion of students who reported ingesting alcohol dropped to almost 43 per cent from 66 per cent, while smoking rates fell to seven per cent from 28 per cent, and cannabis use dropped to 19 per cent from 28 per cent.