TREATMENT EXPERIENCES AND NEED FOR TREATMENT AMONG STUDENTS WITH SERIOUS ALCOHOL AND DRUG PROBLEMS

We examine the prevalence of alcohol and drug problems among adolescen t students, and among those with serious problems related to their use , the proportion who received treatment or report that they need treat ment, employing a 1995 cross-sectional probability survey of Ontario s tudents in grades 7, 9, 11 and 13. Among students with two or more alc ohol-related problems, 2.7% had been in a treatment program because of their alcohol or drug use in the last year and 5.4% felt they needed treatment, but 31.0% wished they could drink less alcohol. Among stude nts with two or more drug-related problems, 8.4% had been in a treatme nt program, 12.2% felt they needed treatment and 19.8% wished that the y could use drugs less than they do now. implications for effective ap proaches to reduce the problems and consequences of alcohol and drug u se among youth discussed.