Drugs and Native-American Youth

Reservation Native-American youth (12-17) use drugs more than other youth, particularly marijuana, inhalants, stimulants and cocaine. Anit-drug messages may have influenced light users, whose use has dropped, but not heavy users; one in five Indian youth use drugs other than marijuana, a rate constant since 1981. Drug use is linked neither to emotional distress nor acculturation stress. It is related to peer drug associations, although less strongly than in Anglo youth, and is linked more directly than in Anglo youth to family influence. Root causes may be poverty, prejudice, and lack of social, educational and economic opportunity on reservations.