Street+Youth+and+Drug+Use+2

**WHO ARE STREET YOUTH **
====  ==== ====**For the purpose of this assignment we will look at youth ages 12 to 25; who are no longer in the care of C.A.S or their parents; and have been either living in the shelter system, couch surfing (ie. staying short term with friends) or have stayed nights on the streets. We will not for the purpose of this paper delve into street youth from other countries outside of North America.**  ==== 

**WHY ARE THEY USING DRUGS **
==== **According to Health Canada (2001)** **Street youth when compared with other youth their age, have a much broader range of problems “including employment, legal, psychosocial, educational and health problems”. According to Public Health Agency of Canada (2007) ** ====


====**When comparing injection drug users to non-injection drug users or youth who reported no drug use of any type in multivariate analysis, independent risk factors for  injection drug use were age, sex, having ever been in jail, dropping out of school, leaving home because of abuse, having a mother who injected drugs, ever living on the street and amount of time spent on the street. **==== ====**In all survey years, older youth were at least nine times more likely to report using injection drugs than younger youth, and youth who used injection drugs were at least 15 times more likely to report that they had been in jail or a detention centre compared to non-injection drug users or youth who used no drugs at all.**====

====**In 1999, significant predictors of injection drug use were dropping out of school, leaving home because of abuse, ever living on the street and having a mother who injected drugs. In 2001 and 2003, youth who had spent 4 or more weeks on the street in the previous month were also more likely to report injecting drugs than youth who had spent 1 day or 1 week on the street.** ==== ====**The Canadian Journal of Urban Research,(2005) <span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';"> published a paper called Voices from the Margins: Understanding Street Youth in Winnipeg which gives a perspective from the street youth’s view point. According to this paper street youth report that they use drugs to cope with the harsh realities of street life. **====

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; text-align: center;">**<span style="color: rgb(0,0,255); font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">DRUGS THEY ARE USING **
====<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="display: block; color: rgb(0,0,255); font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; text-align: center;"> **According the research conducted by Health Canada (2001) “alcohol, cannabis (marijuana) and tobacco are the drugs most frequently used by youth”. For the purpose of this project we will not address alcohol or tobacco but we will address the use of cannabis as well as heroin, crack/cocaine, inhalants and ecstasy.** ====

<span style="display: block; color: rgb(0,0,255); font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; text-align: center;">PERCENTAGE OF STREET YOUTH USING DRUGS
====**According to Public Health Agency of Canada’s report on Canadian Street Youth and substance Use Findings From Enhanced Surveillance of Canadian Street Youth, 1999-2003 (2007) that when s****<span style="font-size: 11pt; color: black; font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">treet youth reported using one substance the more than likely reported using other substances (multiple drug use). In addition 95% of street youth reported using non-injection drug with Marijuana being the most commonly used non-injection drug and 20% of street youth reported the use of injection drug use with Cocaine use being the most commonly used injected drug. **<span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';"> ====