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Race/ethnicity

The rate of current illicit drug use for blacks (7.9 percent) remained somewhat higher than for whites (6.0 percent) and Hispanics (5.1 percent) in 1995. However, among youths the rates of use are about the same for the three groups.

The rate of current illicit drug use for youths in "other" race/ethnicity groups increased from 2.7 percent to 11.2 percent between 1994 and 1995. This result should be viewed with caution, however, as the NHSDA sample size is small for this group. This racial/ethnic group is comprised mainly of Asian Americans, Pacific Islanders, and Native Americans.

Most current illicit drug users were white. There were an estimated 9.6 million whites (75 percent of all users), 1.9 million blacks (15 percent), and 1.0 million Hispanics (8 percent) that were current illicit drug users in 1995.

There were no significant changes in rates between 1994 and 1995 for any of the racial/ethnic groups. However, the recent (between 1992 and 1995) increase in illicit drug use among youths has occurred among white, black and Hispanic youths.

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This page was last updated on June 16, 2008.

SAMHSA, an agency in the Department of Health and Human Services, is the Federal Government's lead agency for improving the quality and availability of substance abuse prevention, addiction treatment, and mental health services in the United States.

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