Mad Gastronomer

White kids 80% more like to do drugs, black kids 1000% more likely to get arrested for them

Time has an article on a new study, which shows that while 9% of white kids aged 12-17 used drugs or alcohol, only 5% of African-American kids did so, even though ten times as many black youth are arrested on drug-related charges.

But this is a post-racial society.

The study, which was published Monday in the Archives of General Psychiatry, controlled for variables like socioeconomic status because rates of severe drug problems tend to be greater amongst the poor. Despite this, Native American youth fared worst, with 15% having a substance use disorder, compared to 9.2% for people of mixed racial heritage, 9.0% for whites, 7.7% for Hispanics, 5% for African Americans and 3.5% for Asians and Pacific Islanders.