Canada ranks 17th in a UNICEF report.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/...ng-report.html

- Top country for druggie kids.
- Only greek and septic kids are fatter.
- Smoke less (unless it's drugs)

(UK did slightly better at 16th)

not surprised at all.

Canada beats the pants off the UK in education (confirming what many other studies report). Everything else is close except health & safety. That must be because of winter sports!

Although I guess it depends on what you read. According to this, Canada is the best country to raise kids in.

http://www.sheknows.ca/parenting/art...-to-raise-kids

Oh dear...sorry to disappoint again...Canada 6th...UK 9th....and this report was released by a UK-based company:

http://globalnews.ca/news/270351/top...raise-a-child/

I wasn't really interested in the rankings as western countries are all going to be pretty similar. I've not read the actual report and don't know how close the numerical index used to order the list was in each category. I'll leave it up to you to find out if it really is "beats the pants off" or not.

The big deal for Canada is the prevalence of drug use. 28% of 11 to 15 year olds? That's a lot of doped up kids. It's the sort of statistic that should have a tangible influence on government policy.

Legalising it, or increasing its war on drugs?

I know you've just gone off googling to prove a point but I don't think you actually read that article you posted. It's a PR piece for a charity focused on children in developing countries.

I don't think anyone in the top 10 list needs to be concerned about access to schooling, malnutrition and infant mortality.

It's a big deal for the UK too:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...gs-league.html

Well the former has never been tried and the latter doesn't work.

Even if it was legalized, you'd still want legislation in place to limit access (like with fags and booze) because cannabis use in teenagers has been linked to mental health and developmental issues. Also 11 year olds aren't really known for making informed choices.

Are you reading these things you are googling? The "nearly 40%" is really 36%. The 36% includes alcohol and cigarettes (The comparable figure for the UK is 16/17% in the UNICEF report)

The UK definitely has more boozed up kids than Canada and that actually has affected government policy in the UK. So I'm not sure what your point is?

Actually I did and I also read the report (see link in article). Canada ranks 6th...UK 9th.

So what is the government to do?

The difference between 1st and 10th in that will be next to nothing. People in western countries are not concerned about the things that report is measuring at all. Nobody comes to Canada from the UK because infant mortality is some tiny percentage lower.

The obvious answer is to take production out of the hands of criminals who don't care who they sell to because, well, they are criminals.

You're actually making my point for me. Why do people come to Canada from the UK? Do you have any comment to make about the education numbers from your link? Or are you only interested in numbers that make Canada look bad in comparison to the UK?