1997 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse

Marijuana Use, by Age Group and Race/Ethnicity (Tables 3.1 to 3.3)

Race/ethnicity was associated with marijuana use, but the relationships varied by age group and reference period. For lifetime marijuana use among 18 to 34 year olds, whites were more likely than blacks, who were more likely than Hispanics to report use; among 12 to 17 year olds, approximately 20% of whites reported lifetime use, compared with 16% to 17% of blacks and Hispanics.7 Among young and middle adults (i.e., those aged 18 to 34), whites and blacks reported similar levels of past year and past month marijuana use, and these levels were significantly higher than the rates for Hispanics. It should be noted, however, that multivariate analyses have suggested that other socioeconomic variables may interact strongly with racial/ethnic differences (Flewelling et al., 1993; Wallace & Bachman, 1991). There were no significant differences among whites, blacks, and Hispanics aged 12 to 17 in past month use.

7 In the interest of readability for this report, "white" is used to indicate "white, non-Hispanic," and "black" to indicate "black, non-Hispanic."

This page was last updated on April 20, 2007.

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