Canadian teens low on sex, booze, tobacco

TORONTO, April 2 (UPI) -- There's evidence Canadian teenagers are smoking less, drinking less and having sex less often, a weekly news magazine said Thursday.

Maclean's magazine cited the results from Project Teen Canada, which has been tracking teen behavior since 1984. The project has been tracking groups of 4,500 teens.

It reported between 2000 and 2008, the number of teenagers between 15 and 19 who said they were sexually active fell from 56 percent to 51 percent.

In the same sampling group and time span, alcohol use dropped from 78 percent to 71 percent, and the occasional or regular use of marijuana and hashish dropped from 37 percent to 31 percent, the magazine said.

As for smoking, the 8-year span showed a reported decrease from 37 percent to 22 percent, the report said.

The magazine quoted sociologist Reginald Bibby of the University of Lethbridge in Alberta as saying many of the fears parents have about the gradual liberalization of liquor laws are unfounded, based on the decline in that behavior.