By: Landis Cornett
The findings from our Dawson City Music Festival Substance Use Survey have been sitting; waiting to be shared. This week is National Addictions Awareness Week and we have been releasing a statistic every day over the course of the week. Our Survey was gathered during the Dawson City Music Festival, BYTE set up a table giving away free water for the completion of the survey. Over the course of the weekend we helped hydrate 136 people and received equal amount of surveys.
The survey was completed anonymously and the findings are going to help us re-design the BYTE safe-partying workshop. This workshop is based upon a harm reduction model and gives youth a chance to learn about substances that they may encounter, situations that may arise while partying, safe alternatives to problems that happen when partying, rights they have when it comes to the law, and the resources and places they can go for help or follow up information they want.
The information from this survey will help inform people, groups and even governments aware of the prevalence of drug and alcohol use amongst our youth. We discovered why people choose to use substances and if they felt they are using them responsibly.
What I found very interesting was of the 136 surveys completed, 114 people have used marijuana (88%). It is troublesome that many of these marijuana users could be prosecuted for something seen to them as fun, enjoyable, relaxing and spiritual. Another finding of this survey showed how the use of legal versus illegal drugs were almost receiving the same amount of numbers. 69% of surveyors have used tobacco. In comparison to an illegal substance like mushroom they was almost an even amount of people who had tried each (60% of surveyors had used mushrooms).
Since the popularity of drug use amongst youth is identified within this survey, the Yukon could be working towards addressing this issue more seriously. The current curriculum at Yukon schools lacks safe partying or drug awareness information. Young people are at a very high risk to the negative effects of drugs and substances. There can be life threatening situations that could happen with something as simple as drinking with your friends. Youth often get their knowledge of substances from friends, movies and TV shows. These are not the most honest sources for drug information.
Youth are experimenting with drugs/alcohol and this is a normal situation, but we put youth in jeopardy by not acknowledging this fact. Education and information on substance use could save many lives. Yukon has the highest drinking rate per capita in Canada and we should put an extra effort in to keep youth educated and informed of the issues surrounding this topic. Information and awareness are huge steps; incorporating drug awareness from a young age, in the school systems and also from parents and mentors can really make a difference in the lives of our youth and we can help to avoid many of the negative impacts that substance use brings.
Click to download a full version of the Substance Use Survey