Study Paints an Alarming Picture of Teenage Drug Use in Rural Areas

Adolescents in small-town and rural America are much more likely than their peers in urban centers to have used drugs, according to a private study released Wednesday. The report urges the government to reverse the alarming trend by funding the war on drugs in nonmetropolitan areas as well as it does in countries like Colombia.

Eighth-graders in rural America are 104% likelier than those in big cities to have used amphetamines and 50% likelier to use cocaine, according to the study released by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University.

The study also found that eighth-graders in rural areas are 83% more likely to have used crack cocaine and 34% more likely to have smoked marijuana than their urban counterparts.

The figures, based primarily on 1999 data, also found that eighth-graders in rural areas were 70% likelier to have gotten drunk and 29% likelier to drink alcohol.

Eighth-graders were more than twice as likely to smoke cigarettes and nearly five times more likely to use smokeless tobacco, the study found. Rural 10th and 12th graders also were found generally more likely to use drugs than urban counterparts.