Cocaine, pot used by Winnipeg kids at younger ages

When Jessica was 12 years old she was an A student who played sportsat a school in Winnipeg's south end, but by the time she was in Grade 8she was getting high every day at school.

On her 14thbirthdayshe bought her first hit of cocaine at her school.

"I was sent to school with money to go shopping. Kids were starting toget into coke so I bought it off someone," she said.

"After the first time Isnorted it I didn't care who [saw]me do it, or where I did it. Ieven got into snorting meth right by the cafeteria in my school."

Just recently my friend walked into the washroom to some girlssnorting cocaine. They just packed up the cocaine and left.- Grade 12 student

CBC News can't legally identify Jessica or her school because heraddictions forced her parents to put her in the care ofChild andFamily Services to get the help she needed.

She's now 16 and livingin a treatment centre, but students from schools all over Winnipegtell CBC Jessica's story doesn't shock them.

"Just recently my friend walked into the washroom to some girlssnorting cocaine," saida Grade 12 student from another school.

"Theyjust packed the cocaine up and left."

Teens say by far the easiest drug to get at school is marijuana.

"Usually there were two, maybe three kids who would get drugs outsideofschool and sell the drugs within the rest of the school," saidarecent graduate from a south Winnipeg school.

"You'd usually justwalk over to the smoker door and ask,'does anyone have some weed?'

"You'd either get a bag of weed, like a gram, or you'd go blaze withsomeone."

In some cases it can be even easier than that. Jessica said that before she'd ever tried cocaine, she and a friend were offered pot when shejoined a group of kids smoking cigarettes outside her suburban school.

"Because we were the new girls in the group we got a lot ofattention. We were both really pretty girls so all the guyswanted toget us high."

The Winnipeg School Division hasyet to provide figures requested by CBC News on drug-related incidents at schools in their district. But a 2012U.S.-based study by the National Institute on Drug Abuse calledMonitoring the Future,shows an increase in the number of teenagerssmoking marijuana in the past five years.

The 2008 Manitoba StudentAlcohol and Drug Use Survey shows that 22 percent of students reportedpast-year pot use.

'Everyday occurrence'

Students tell CBC News that kids are showing up high to class on a dailybasis.

"I'd say it's an everyday occurrence. You always have someonecoming in high or hearing about it," saida Grade 12 student from acentrally-located school in the Winnipeg School Division.

She saidthe kids doing thedrugs aren't afraid to announce that they're high at school.

Teens also told stories of students smoking so much marijuana theywould vomit at school.

"I knew maybe four people who had 'greenedout' in the cafeteria," saida recent graduate.

Another told thestory of a Grade 12 boy vomiting in gym class in the first week atschool after smoking too muchmarijuana. She saidthe teacher askedhim to leave class and he spent the rest of the period vomiting into agarbage can in the hallway.

Students say there's not much teachers can do when confronted with astudent who is high.

"Most of them don't say anything or they willask students to settle down. Or they'll kick them out," said one student.

"Most of thekids here know their boundaries and know not to get caught."

President of the Manitoba Teachers Society, Paul Olson, agrees thatrecognizing a student is high can be tough.

"Depending on thequality of the acting going on, it may not be something that anyreasonable adult working with 30 or 40 students at a time would beexpected to notice," he said.

Teachers look the other way

But there is also a perception among students of leniency when itcomes to marijuana.

"Sometimes it would smell really bad in theclassroom," saida recent graduate. "The teachers all kind of justknew and didn't bother with it."

The last thing to do is ignore it.If they know youcare, that reaches them.- Douglas Taylor, principal of St John's High School

Douglas Taylor, principal of St John's High School, said drugs have been an issue at every school he's workedat in every part of the city.

Those schools includeKelvin high school, Grant Park high school, David Livingston (nursery to grade 8) and Andrew Mynarski VC junior high school.

But he challenges the students'impression that teachers are looking the other way.

"The last thing to do is ignore it," saidTaylor. "If they know youcare, that reaches them."

He saidteachers should report theirsuspicions to their principal and an investigation should follow.Parents would be contacted and locker and backpack searches arepossible.

"Many times we would involve the Addictions Foundation ofManitoba," he said.

When Taylor worked at Andrew Mynarski the school created its own program to deal with kids who were found doingdrugs. They would besuspended and before that they were allowed to return to school, they would meet withcounsellors and resource people to talk about theirdrug use.

"You have to show them this isn't just a slap on the wrist," said Taylor.

Drugs seen asless risky than before

Recent discussions by politicians and the police about thedecriminalization of marijuana have also muddied the waterswhen itcomes to dealing with the drug at school.

Students may not see drugsas being as risky as they once seemed.

The 2012 Monitoring theFuturereport shows that as perceived risk of using marijuana goesdown among students, potuse goes up.

Students agree that fears around drug use are decliningand kids are starting to experiment at a younger age.

"There's a lot ofpeople going out trying E (ectasy) on the weekends but they're startingin Grade 9," saidone teen."When I was 14 I wasn't thinking aboutdrugs. But now my brother, who is two years younger than me, he's 14,and he has friends starting to drink and smoke weed and all thesethings.

"And that really weirded me out because it's only a two-yeargap and already it's starting younger and younger."

Big jump fromGrade 7 to8

Statistics show there is a big increase in marijuana use between Grades 7and 9.

The 2008 Manitoba Student Alcohol and Drug Use Survey shows that four per cent of Grade 7students reportedusing pot in the past year. By Grade 9that number jumpedto 19 per centand it goes up to 28 per centfor Grade 10 students.

By Grade 12, 33 per cent ofstudents said they'd used marijuana in the past year.

Some students say they would like to see more done to deal with theproblem of drugs in schools.

"I think we need to have stricter rules.There needs to be consequences.I feel like the schools are too slackon disciplineand I think it's because they don't want kids droppingout of school," saidone Grade 12 student.

She's got a message for herclassmates who come to school high and disrupt class: "I've got thementality that I don't care what you do, I'm here to learn, to get touniversity. If you don't want to do that I'm not going to judge you but when you take away from my learning time that's not cool."