Ethnicity and alcohol/drug use revisited: a framework for future research

Despite the large pool of research findings pertaining to ethnic and racial variations in the use of drugs (including alcohol), the relationship between ethnicity and drug use has not been thoroughly examined. This paper describes some of the major findings regarding ethnic and racial variations in drug use, and examines the methodological limitations of such studies. Moreover, this paper addresses the problem of shortage of theoretical explanations for ethnic variations in drug use. It is argued that the variable of ethnicity has not been properly conceptualized and measured in most studies. Cultural and structural aspects of ethnicity at both the individual and collective levels are examined, and their possible contributions to more rigorous research on the relationship between ethnicity and drug use are discussed.