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May 31, 2007Drug Use Is Increasing Among Young American Indians |
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From Ascribe Newsfeed: Researchers at the University of Colorado at Denver and Health Sciences Center have completed a study that compared the age of first-time drug users across the nation to the age of first-time drug users on and near two different American Indian reservations. Overall, American Indian adolescents were found to be at higher risk for trying marijuana than their peers across the country. Researchers at the American Indian and Alaska Native Programs located in UCDHSC's Nighthorse Campbell Native Health Building divided drug users into two groups - those born before 1960 and those born after 1960. For the population born before 1960, the potential risk for drug use peaked at age 18 with a greater risk in the overall national population group. After 1960, the risk for trying marijuana was highest at age 16 and is now higher among reservation-dwelling youth than the general population. "The overall age for drug use and experimentation has moved to a younger age group all across the nation," said Nancy Whitesell, PhD, assistant professor of psychiatry in the American Indian and Alaska Native Programs at the UCDHSC School of Medicine. This research tells us that greater attention needs to be paid to prevention strategies targeted at younger children. The study, published in the July 2007 issue of the American Journal of Public Health, is being published May 30 online under 'First Look' at http://www.ajph.org/.
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