ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the extent and patterns of drug use and attitudes for a sample of primarily Mexican-American high school students identified as potential dropouts. Great concern exists among educators concerning problems related to drug use in the schools and concomitant problems of poor school performance and anti-social behavior. More research work is needed in the areas of drug use of minority students and its relation to school performance. Girls and boys differ substantially in both the patterns of drug use and the attitudes towards drugs. In terms of drug usage, boys are characterized by higher usage of marijuana and alcohol than girls and less usage of LSD and amphetamines. Students showed a marked increase in their use of Alcohol—Beer/Wine, in Cigarette Smoking, and in Alcohol—Hard Liquor. Marijuana had also been used more often during the preceding year by the survey group of students.
