Does it surprise you to learn that according to a recent government survey Hispanic teens are more likely to experiment and use recreational drugs that other types of teens? As the educational director for onlinedrugclass.com I can tell you that this does not really surprise me. As reported in voxxi.com.
While marijuana still tops the list of the most abused drugs by Hispanic teenagers, the data in the report indicates Hispanic teens also top the lists of most frequent users for alcohol, cocaine and ecstasy.
The most recent Partnership Attitude Tracking Study (PATS) indicates the following numbers associated with Hispanic teen drug abuse:
• Fifty-four percent of Hispanics teens reported having used an illicit drug, versus 45 percent for African American teens and 43 percent for Caucasian teens.
• Forty-seven percent of Hispanic teens used marijuana, compared to 39 percent for African American teens and 36 percent for Caucasian teens.
• Thirteen percent of Hispanic teens used Ecstasy, compared to 6 percent for Caucasian teens and 8 percent for African American teens.
• Thirteen percent of Hispanic teens reported cocaine use, compared to 8 percent for African American teens and 3 percent for Caucasian teens.
• Hispanic teens reported they consumed alcohol (62 percent) at a similar rate to Caucasian teens (59 percent) and significantly higher than African American teens (50 percent).
• Sixty-two percent of Hispanic teens have been offered drugs at least once in their lifetime, compared to 53 percent for Caucasian teens and 46 percent for African American teens.
• Forty-two percent of Hispanic teens have been offered drugs at their own school, compared to 30 percent for Caucasian teens and 28 percent for African American teens.
• Twenty-four percent of Hispanic teens report seeing frequent drug use in their communities, compared to 15 percent for Caucasian teens and 24 percent for African American teens.
• Twenty-six percent of Hispanics teens reported having abused or misused a prescription drug in the past year, compared to 15 percent for both Caucasian and African American teens.
• Sixteen percent of Hispanic teens reported they engaged in the risky behavior of mixing alcohol with abusing prescription drugs (without a prescription), compared to 11 percent for Caucasian teens and 6 percent for African American teens.
• Ten percent of Hispanic teens abused over-the-counter (OTC) cough medicine in the past year, compared to 5 percent for both Caucasian and African American teens.
I know the Hispanic community is working on this ever-growing concern. The ground-work is being laid by just the right people – the parents. According to this study, Hispanic parents are setting the best example among parents with lowest usage of recreational drugs. We will look at this in our next onlinedrugclass.com blog.