A recent survey of adolescent teens between the ages of 12-17 years-old finds that drug and alcohol use is lowest amongst Black and Asian teenagers.

According to the survey, Native American youth have the highest rate of youth drug and alcohol abuse at 48%, followed by 39% of whites, 37% of Hispanics, 36% of mixed-race youth, and 34% of Black youth. Asian youth had the lowest rate of abuse, at 24%.

From the Huffington Post:

“‘There is certainly still a myth out there that black kids are more likely to have problems with drugs than white kids, and this documents as clearly as any study we’re aware of that the rate of … substance-related disorders among African American youths is significantly lower‘ Dan Blazer from Duke’s Department of Psychiatry, a senior author of the study, told the Raleigh News & Observer.”

and later:

“Native American adolescents were also found to have the highest — and blacks and Asians the lowest — rate of substance-use disorder, defined as symptoms that would interfere with social functioning, work or school, and if obtaining the substance becomes a priority.”

Read the rest of this article at HuffingtonPost.com

Don’t you find it bizarre that so many of our young people are incarcerated

on drug-related offenses,

yet they are among the least likely to abuse drugs?

Sound off below!