Study Finds Large Racial Disparities in Prescription Drug Abuse by High School Students

A new study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention finds that one in five high school students in the United States has abused prescription drugs. Students were surveyed and asked if they had ever taken drugs such as Percocet, Vicodin, or Xanax without a doctor’s prescription.

The results showed that white students were more likely than their black peers to abuse prescription drugs. Some 23 percent of white students had abused prescription drugs compared to only 12 percent of black students.

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