More Mexican Americans use drugs than any other group: General Social Survey respondents (N=1839) were asked if they had used illegal drugs in the past year. Here are the percentages who answered yes by their ethnic background:
Percent who used illegal drugs in the past year:
Mexican 9.0
Amerindian 6.7
Scottish 6.6
English/Welsh 6.6
German 6.6
USA 4.8
Irish 3.3
Italian 2.8
Black 1.8
This accords with other survey data which indicate illicit drug use is high for Native Americans and Mex-Ams, moderate for whites, and low for blacks. Something new is that use is lower for whites from Catholic countries.
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Blacks at the lowest level?
ReplyDeleteTheres something fishy there...
There is some research evidence that blacks--at least black guys--underreport their deviant activities to interviewers.
ReplyDeleteFrom what I've seen, and I certainly never knew a representative sample of people, a much smaller fraction of blacks than whites use drugs. But blacks who use tend to have more problems with it.
ReplyDeleteNarcotics Anonymous, at least the meetings I go to, is more black than the general population.
I worked nightshift at a coffee joint. Most of the crack-pipe addicts were Black.
ReplyDeleteRepresentative? I dunno.
Blacks are more religious and religious people are probably more likely to use a 12-step program.
ReplyDeleteThat may well be true. Ron, is there a relationship btw religiosity and 12 stepping?
We may just be seeing the same thing with drugs as with alcohol: blacks are more likely to abstain, and more likely to have a problem with moderating use.
Mensa, crack seems to be more popular among blacks than speed is, which I think is odd. It is much safer and cheaper to make speed than buy crack.
"Ron, is there a relationship btw religiosity and 12 stepping?"
ReplyDeleteI don't know, but I doubt it. In college, I had a job where I took hospital patients to AA & NA meetings, and the folks I saw did not seem like the church-going type. I suspect almost all of them believed in God, if that's what you mean. The program is based on the idea that you cannot beat the addiction: only a "higher power" can.
And I suspect you might be right about the lack of moderate use among blacks.
Ron, I pretty much meant church going. Almost everyone believes God ( or some spiritual something) exists.
ReplyDeleteAlso, it seems black drug users are more likely to be dealers as well, and surveying the non-prison population would underestimate black drug use.