According to a new report by the McCreary Centre in British Columbia (BC), homeless and street-involved youth are among the most vulnerable populations in Canada and experience significant health inequities. The 2014 Homeless and Street-Involved Youth Survey captured information from close to 700 youth across British Columbia. The results of their report, Our Communities, Our Youth, provide important information about risk and protective factors among BC youth who are homeless, precariously housed, or involved in a street lifestyle.

The most common reasons for becoming homeless or street-involved were not getting along with parents, being kicked out of the home and/or violence or abuse within the home. The results showed that Aboriginal and sexual minority youth were over-represented among this group of youth. This was also true for youth with a mental health condition. More specifically, 68% of youth reported having at least one mental health condition and 31% had attempted suicide.

There were some improvements compared to a similar study in 2006. More youth reported waiting until they were 15 or older to try alcohol or marijuana and fewer youth reported using tobacco, ecstacy, heroin and crystal meth. However, the percentage of youth who used a condom or other barrier the last time they had sex decreased to 43% compared to 61% in 2006.

One of the important findings that surfaced from the study was the important role that school plays in the lives of homeless youth. Although youth are vulnerable to victimization within the school environment, when they feel connected to school and receive one-on-one support, they can be resilient to the challenges they face. Similarly, youth who felt connected to their community were more likely to rate their mental health as good or excellent and less likely than their peers to forego needed mental health care.

This confirms what a vital role school personnel and community service providers play in supporting vulnerable youth to engage in school life and stay in school and in reducing the barriers to accessing services.

The youth were also asked for the resources that they believed were most needed in their communities. Safe housing, job training or work experience, shelters or transitional housing and youth centres appeared among the top--important information for community and social service agencies to consider.

Check out the full report on the Homeless Hub

The short answer is, maybe, maybe not! While more research is needed (surprise, surprise), we still need to intervene and do so effectively.

What we do know is that the school represents a great opportunity to carry out prevention work with youth and therefore school-based programs have a high potential to make a real impact!

Why?

Well, there are several reasons why schools are an ideal settings for prevention work. First, in most cases, schools have contact with almost all youth in a community. There are circumstances where this is not true, however most youth do attend school in their communities. Second, there is evidence that shows that prevention is most effective when it occurs seamlessly across all areas of a youth’s life - for example, when prevention occurs in the schools, communities and in families. Schools are in a unique position to bring all these areas together – often schools are an important part of a community and a place where families of students often visit. Finally, prevention in school settings targets a population that is at high risk of experiencing harms associated with substance use. For example, we know that youth are at a critical stage in development and that substance abuse at this time can be dangerous.

In September 2015, a study was published in JAMA Pediatrics that looked at the effectiveness of universal drug prevention programs implemented in middle schools. In other words, the authors wanted to know how effective prevention programs are that target all drugs (i.e. not one specific drug) when implemented in middle schools (in the United States).

To answer this question, the authors conducted a systematic review to identify all randomized controlled trials of universal (i.e. targeting all substances), middle school-based prevention programs that were conducted between January 1, 2021 and March 15, 2015.

The selection criteria for inclusion in their systematic review was straightforward. To be included in their review, the studies had to be randomized controlled trials, address the prevention of alcohol, tobacco, marijuana and/or other drugs through middle school-based initiatives delivered in the United States, and report on the substance use outcomes. After eliminating all studies that did not meet their criteria, the authors found 13 articles to include in their systematic review.

Of all the studies included in their review, only 3 presented statistically significant differences in drug use between the intervention group and the control group. The results of this systematic review demonstrate that due to a lack of evidence we are not sure if programs that are widely used across the United States in a middle-school setting are effective or not.

The authors conclude that new methods may be necessary to approach school-based adolescent substance use prevention. In my opinion, I think more targeted approaches to prevention might yield better results. It is a tall task to prevent all substance abuse by employing a single campaign that encompasses all drugs.

For example, an assessment of the schools current situation would highlight which drugs are being used, or are available, and could help guide the focus of prevention efforts in that particular school where risk is the highest.

For more information, click here

How does age of onset change marijuana’s effects on impulsivity?

Did you know that in 2013 Canadian youth were reported to be the highest users of marijuana in the developed world?

Marijuana continues to be the most commonly used illegal drug among Canadian youth, 15–24 years old. According to Statistics Canada’s Canadian Tobacco, Alcohol and Drug Survey, the rate of marijuana use among youth and young adults in 2013 was more than double the rate of use among people over 25 years old.

Why is it important to address youth marijuana use?

Neuroscience research has shown that adolescents are at greater risk for experiencing harms associated with marijuana than are adults. A young person’s brain is still going through extremely important developmental changes; its neural networks are not fully set up until the early to mid 20s. A great deal of brain development takes place throughout adolescence and into early adulthood.

Chronic marijuana use has been associated with memory impairment (either the ability to store memories or the ability to recall memories can be impaired) and difficulties thinking and paying close attention to things. The longer a young person has been using marijuana, the stronger these effects are. Connections have also been made between early and chronic use of marijuana and increased risk of psychosis, depression and anxiety, as well as respiratory conditions and maybe even lung cancer — all of this is true for both youth and adults.

Can age of onset change marijuana’s effects on brain development?

A recent study [1] showed that marijuana smokers of age 25, particularly those who began regular use prior to age 16, had significantly reduced white matter development than non-marijuana smoking controls. White matter can be thought of as insulation for brain cells — just like a telephone wire needs insulation to send a signal, brain cells do too. The youth with lower levels of white matter development also scored higher on impulsivity tests.

So what?

These findings suggest that age is a factor in the effects of marijuana use on the developing brain: the earlier one begins to use marijuana, the greater the effects on that person’s brain development can be.

Implications for Prevention Practice
To reduce the negative impacts of marijuana use — for medical purposes or otherwise — among youth, delaying the age of onset should be a prevention goal.

Implications for Policy
These findings should also be used to inform policies and legislation related to the legal age at which one can use or possess or purchase marijuana.

For more information on how marijuana use effects the adolescent brain, download The Effects of Cannabis Use during Adolescence, published by the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse (CCSA).

[1] Gruber, S.A., Dahlgren, M.K., Sagar, K.A., Gonenc, A., & Lukas, S.E. (2014). Worth the wait: effects of age of onset of marijuana use on white matter and impulsivity. Psychopharmacology, 231(8), 1455–1465.