Teen drinking and drug use risk higher on Native American reservations

(Reuters Health) – Teens on Native American reservations continue to be more likely to report using alcohol, marijuana and other illicit drugs than peers elsewhere in the U.S. and to start using at younger ages, a recent study suggests.

Researchers examined survey data on alcohol and drug use for 1,660 students in grades 8, 10 and 12 who self-identified as Native American and attended schools on or near reservations during the 2016 to 2017 academic year, and compared their responses to results for U.S. youth in general on similar surveys.

When researchers looked at what proportion of the participants reported using various substances within the past month, the disparity between Native and other youths was greatest in the eighth grade.

Native American eighth graders were more than four times as likely to use alcohol and more than twice as likely to use marijuana or other illicit drugs in the previous month. Native American eighth graders also had more than triple the risk of binge drinking and more than quadruple the risk of smoking cigarettes.

“Given the much higher Native American 8th grade rates, compared to national rates, these data underscore that Native American…