Substance use by Indigenous and non-Indigenous primary school students

Objective: Recent Australian research with adolescents aged 13 to 17 years has found that Indigenous youth are more likely than non-indigenous adolescents to smoke tobacco and cannabis, although they may be less likely to use alcohol. The objective of this study was to examine whether this pattern exists among younger children. Method: A school-based, self-report survey was conducted in primary schools that had high proportions of Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander children. Four schools were located in metropolitan Brisbane and three in Far North Queensland (sample n=507 students: 270 girls, 237 boys, aged 9-13 years). Results Significant numbers of these children had started to experiment with recreational drugs. Twenty-two per cent had attempted to smoke at least one cigarette, 14% smoked in the preceding year, while 3% had smoked more than 10 cigarettes in their lives. Thirty-eight per cent had had at least one drink of alcohol, while 6% had smoked marijuana at least once. There was no significant association between Indigenous/non-Indigenous background and risk of smoking tobacco or marijuana, while Indigenous children were less likely than non-indigenous children to report experience with alcohol. Conclusions: Contrary to data from secondary school students, Indigenous youth in primary schools were not more likely than non-indigenous children to have experimented with tobacco or marijuana, or to be frequent tobacco smokers. It appears therefore that the excessive uptake of drug use among Indigenous youth occurs in the early stages of secondary school. This finding underlines the importance of preventive education in primary schools, especially for indigenous children who have a high risk of making the transition to drug use in adolescence.