iN NUMBERS: Now that weed is legal BC teens are smoking less

Getting stoned has never been more permitted in Canada, which means it has never been less cool for young people.

Teenagers in BC are smoking less pot than they used to. If you really want to discourage your teen from smoking weed, light up a joint and call it “wacky tobacky”.

Here are the numbers from BC’s most recent survey of teen cannabis use in 2023:

• 22: Per cent of British Columbian teens tried cannabis in 2023, down from 41 per cent in 1998.
• 32: Per cent of students 12 to 18 years old tried weed in the BC Interior, higher than the provincial average.
• 15: Per cent of youth in the Fraser Health region have tried cannabis, the lowest rate in BC.
• 62: Per cent of BC teens who tried weed for the first time were between the ages of 13 and 15.
• 54: Per cent of youths who had smoked some jazz cabbage worked 21 hours a week or more. Apparently not all stoner teens are lazy.
• 12: Per cent of teens in the Okanagan smoked weed everyday the month they were surveyed, just like Dr. Dre’s advice in The Next Episode.
• 56: Per cent of teens in the Thompson-Cariboo-Shuswap region get their weed by sharing it with friends.
• 16: Per cent of young people used a stronger substance than weed, like mushrooms or cocaine.
• 18: Per cent smoked weed 20 or more days in a month, up from 11 per cent in 2018.
• 34: Per cent of pot smoking teens vape their cannabis rather than a good ol’ doobie or bong hit.