The prevalence of drug use in urban Aboriginal communities

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Abstract
The use of both licit and illicit drugs has been identified as a major health issue for Australian Aborigines. However, data on the proportion of people who use such drugs is scant. This cross‐sectional survey of a randomly selected sample of urban Aboriginal people provides information on the use of the drugs alcohol, tobacco, marijuana, cocaine, heroin as well as petrol sniffing. Overall, a significantly smaller proportion of Aboriginal people were found to be current alcohol drinkers compared to non‐Aboriginal Australians. A larger proportion of these drinkers were, however, found to be drinking at levels that were hazardous to their health. A significantly greater proportion of people from the Aboriginal sample were also found to be smokers compared to their non‐Aboriginal counterparts. An examination of the use of the illicit substances revealed that a greater proportion reported they had ever used marijuana, compared to the other substances. The findings are discussed in terms of their implications for the health of Aboriginal people.