This Just In

Globe and Mail;

One in five Canadian adolescents ages 12 to 15 has been drunk at least once, and has tried marijuana, according to a study released yesterday by Statistics Canada.
The study, based on interviews with more than 4,000 youths in that age group, found those most likely to use drugs and alcohol travelled with peers who also did so, had parents who nagged or were inconsistent about rules, and were more likely to be doing poorly in school.
Among those who had been intoxicated, the average age for their first time was a few months past their 13th birthday — around the same age they were most likely to sample their first joint. The likelihood of drinking and marijuana use increased with age; 66 per cent of 15-year-olds in the study reported consuming at least one drink and 38 per cent said they had smoked pot.

Ummmm… yeah. That’s about how I remember it.
Legal drinking age pretty much depended upon how far from your home town you were. I could drink in the Forget bar at 14, in Kisbey at 16 (the bar was across the street from the hall where we had high school dances, and would fill up during the band breaks).

Patrons’ vehicles, outside the Arcola Hotel, summer 2003.

You couldn’t get into the Arcola Hotel pub until you were of legal age, because everybody knew what grade you were in.

Not that it mattered. We had a private stock in the high school yearbook room. We drank lemon gin. Out of A&W root beer mugs.