The New Brunswick government has turned to an overseas model in an attempt to address youth substance abuse.
On Tuesday, Bruce Fitch, the provincial health minister, announced plans to pilot a five-year project in collaboration with Planet Youth, an Icelandic agency.
“We know substance use can be a leading contributor to poor health, poor health outcomes, and continues to negatively impact our youth here in the province of New Brunswick,” Fitch said at the Teen Resource Centre in Saint John, N.B.
In each of the next five years, New Brunswick will spend $255,000 to operate the program in Woodstock, Saint John, Kent County, and the Acadian Peninsula.
These locations, Fitch noted, represent communities in francophone, anglophone, rural, and urban settings. Over the coming weeks, work will begin with the assembly of community action groups for each region.
The pilot project is among the initiatives detailed in the provincial reform plan released nearly a year ago by then-health minister Dorothy Shephard.
Through Planet Youth, pilot sites will adopt and implement the Icelandic Prevention Model.
“It focuses on not telling the kids what to do, but changing the environment around the kids, so they will make different decisions, and not engage in substance abuse as they grow older,” remarked Pall Rikhardsson, Planet Youth chief executive officer.
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Initiatives implemented in Iceland under the model include rules to keep children inside after a specific hour, said Rikhardsson.
However, he noted, strategies used across the pond may not provide the same results.
“So, the challenge for New Brunswick will be to work with the data that is gathered about the kids and then define initiatives that will work in New Brunswick.”
When asked about a timeline, Rikhardsson stated changes to consumption or well-being will take time to materialize.
Results from the 2021-2022 student wellness survey published by the New Brunswick Health Council detail substance use levels among students.
When it comes to cigarette smoking, 15.7 per cent of students between grades 6 to 12 have tried it, though 28.3 per cent have tried vaping.
For alcohol, 45 per cent of students in grades 7 to 12 have used it, while 11.6 per cent reported heavy drinking — having had five or more drinks at one time, at least once a month, in the last 12 months.
As for drug use, excluding tobacco, alcohol, and cannabis, data last recorded from 2018-2019, showed 24.6 per cent of students using drugs to get high in the 12 months before the survey.
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