Far Fewer Black Teens Have Substance Disorders
Data collected by the National Survey on Drug Use and Health revealed that out of more than 70,000 participants, roughly 5 percent of Black youths reported having any sort of substance disorder, according to a Time article published in 2011. Meanwhile, 9 percent of their white counterparts reportedly had or were still dealing with substance disorders.
White High School Seniors Tend to Have Highest Rates of Drug Use
A 2014 study by University of Michigan researchers focusing specifically on drug use among students found that white teenage students were far more likely than Black students to use “hallucinogens, amphetamines, methamphetamine, sedatives (barbiturates), tranquilizers” and other drugs. The study also revealed that while students of all races tended to have high rates of use of at least one sort of drug at some point, by the time students reached the 12th grade level white students had the “highest lifetime and annual prevalence rates among the three major racial/ethnic groups for many substances including synthetic marijuana, LSD, hallucinogens other than LSD, narcotics other than heroin, amphetamines, sedatives (barbiturates), tranquilizers, been drunk, occasions of heavy drinking in the last two weeks, cigarettes, and smokeless tobacco.”