Many people in Canada choose not to drink alcohol, while many others enjoy drinking for a variety of reasons, such as socializing, celebrating and relaxing. Young people in Canada drink alcohol for many of the same reasons and a lot them would agree that drinking alcohol is just part of having a good time.

Alcohol is the drug most frequently used by Canadian youth. On average, young people in Canada have their first drink at age 15. According to the 2004 Canadian Addiction Survey, 62% of youth aged 15 to 17 years and 91% of youth aged 18 to 19 years reported they had consumed alcohol in the previous year. While youth drink alcohol less frequently than adults, when they do drink, they drink more. In other words, they tend to drink heavily, or ‘binge’ drink. Heavy drinking is defined as having 5 or more standard drinks on one occasion. The rates of heavy drinking among youth on a weekly and monthly basis are almost double those of adults.

Alcohol use is a public health issue because it can cause harm. Most of the harms associated with alcohol occur as a result of heavy drinking, such as alcohol poisoning, sexual assault, injury, violence and road crashes.