Substance misuse among native and rural high school students in Quebec

A questionnaire exploring the smoking habits, past and current use of alcoholic beverages, cannabis, and other illicit drugs was distributed among Francophone and Native high school students in a rural area of Quebec. The lifetime prevalence figures indicated that use of illicit drugs was significantly higher among Native students. This held true particularly for stimulants and inhalants (p less than .001). Figures for the 1-year prevalence indicated that use of stimulants in Native students remained still significantly higher (p less than .01). However, consumption of alcoholic beverages was more important in Francophone students (p less than .05). A gender difference was observed in Native students, females reporting an earlier involvement with most substances under study. This tendency decreased with age. The implications of this study for the prevention of alcohol and substance abuse among rural and Native youths are discussed.