Beyond the staggering statistics—like the fact that 42.5% of African American adults have used illicit drugs in their lifetime—lies a complex reality deeply intertwined with systemic inequities, criminal justice disparities, and community resilience.
Key Takeaways
- According to the 2021 NSDUH, 42.5% of African American adults aged 18+ reported lifetime illicit drug use
- In 2020, past-month illicit drug use among African Americans aged 12+ was 18.4%, higher than the national average of 13.1%
- 2022 NSDUH data shows 24.7% of African American youth aged 12-17 used illicit drugs in the past year
- In 2021 NSDUH, past-month marijuana use among African American adults aged 18-25 was 28.6%
- Lifetime marijuana use for African Americans aged 12+ reached 49.8% in 2020
- Past-year marijuana use disorder among African American youth 12-17: 5.3% in 2022
- In 2020, past-year opioid misuse among African Americans was 6.1%
- Heroin lifetime use: 2.4% African American adults 2021 NSDUH
- Past-month prescription opioid misuse: 2.8% African Americans aged 12+ 2022
- In 2021, past-year cocaine use among African Americans aged 12+ was 6.3%
- Crack cocaine lifetime use: 8.7% African American adults 2020 NSDUH
- Methamphetamine past-month use: 0.9% African Americans 2022
- In 2022, African Americans comprised 26% of drug-related arrests despite 13% population
- 2021 FBI UCR: 35% of marijuana possession arrests were African Americans
- Bureau of Justice 2020: African Americans 45% of federal drug trafficking convictions
African American drug use exceeds national averages yet faces disproportionately severe enforcement.
Cocaine and Stimulants
- In 2021, past-year cocaine use among African Americans aged 12+ was 6.3%
- Crack cocaine lifetime use: 8.7% African American adults 2020 NSDUH
- Methamphetamine past-month use: 0.9% African Americans 2022
- Cocaine use disorder: 2.1% past-year African American adults 2019
- 2021 CDC: Cocaine-involved overdose deaths among African Americans up 45%
- NSDUH 2018: Past-year crack use 2.4% African American males
- Lifetime methamphetamine use: 4.2% African Americans 18+ 2021
- Powder cocaine past-year: 4.8% African American young adults 2020
- NSDUH 2017: 1.6% past-month cocaine use African Americans
- Crack overdose deaths: 22% of psychostimulant deaths African Americans 2021
- 2022 data: Meth past-year 1.3% African American youth 12-17
- Among African American females, cocaine use 3.9% lifetime 2019
- NSDUH 2016: Cocaine use disorder 1.8% African American adults
- Past-year amphetamine use: 1.7% African Americans 2021
- Urban African Americans crack use: 3.2% past-year 2020
- 2021 MTF: 2.5% past-year cocaine African American 12th graders
- Lifetime crack use among African American seniors: 12.1% 2018
- NSDUH 2015: 5.4% past-year cocaine African Americans 12+
- Methamphetamine treatment admissions: 15% African Americans 2020 TEDS
- Cocaine positive drug tests: 28% among African American arrestees 2021 ADAM II
- Past-month smokeless tobacco with stimulants: 1.1% African Americans 2022
- 2020 Southern cocaine use: 7.2% past-year African Americans
- Crack initiation age average 22.4 for African Americans 2019
- NSDUH 2022: Lifetime cocaine 14.6% African American adults
- Past-year Adderall misuse with cocaine: 0.9% African American students 2021
Cocaine and Stimulants Interpretation
The grim math of these statistics reveals a potent, tragic irony: the substances fueling a public health crisis within the African American community are the same ones historically weaponized by systemic neglect and predatory policy.
Criminal Justice
- In 2022, African Americans comprised 26% of drug-related arrests despite 13% population
- 2021 FBI UCR: 35% of marijuana possession arrests were African Americans
- Bureau of Justice 2020: African Americans 45% of federal drug trafficking convictions
- 2019 data: 80,000 African Americans arrested for drug offenses
- Incarceration rate for drug crimes: 1 in 20 African American males vs 1 in 200 white
- 2022 BJS: 33% state prisoners African American for drug offenses
- Crack vs powder disparity: African Americans 85% crack sentences 2021 USSC
- 2020 probationers: 28% African Americans drug violations
- Drug court participation: 25% African Americans 2019
- 2021: African Americans 40% parole drug violators revoked
- Juvenile drug arrests: 65% African American males 2018 OJJDP
- 2022 FBI: 29% drug sales arrests African Americans
- Federal drug sentences average 72 months for African Americans 2020
- 2017 BJS: Lifetime felony drug conviction risk 33% African American males
- Drug possession stops: 52% African Americans in 50 largest cities 2021
- 2020 state prison drug admissions: 27% African Americans
- Mandatory minimums impact: 60% African Americans affected 2019 USSC
- 2021 jail inmates: 35% African Americans drug offenses
- Recidivism drug crimes: 55% African Americans re-arrested within 3 years 2018 BJS
- 2016 data: African Americans 46% federal drug prisoners
- Pretrial detention drug cases: 42% African Americans 2022
- 2022 urban drug arrests: 38% African Americans
- Heroin trafficking convictions: 30% African Americans 2021 USSC
- Drug asset forfeiture: 55% assets from African American communities 2020
Criminal Justice Interpretation
The data paints a grim portrait of criminal justice policy operating less as a neutral enforcer and more as a system that meticulously constructs African Americans as its primary drug crime demographic, despite parity in usage rates.
Marijuana Use
- In 2021 NSDUH, past-month marijuana use among African American adults aged 18-25 was 28.6%
- Lifetime marijuana use for African Americans aged 12+ reached 49.8% in 2020
- Past-year marijuana use disorder among African American youth 12-17: 5.3% in 2022
- 2022 MTF survey: 35.2% of African American 12th graders reported past-year marijuana use
- Daily/near-daily marijuana use among African American adults: 7.4% in 2019
- Past-month marijuana use for African American males 18+: 19.2% in 2021
- Among African American females aged 26+, past-year marijuana use was 15.8% in 2020
- NSDUH 2018: 24.1% past-month marijuana use among African American young adults 18-25
- Marijuana initiation before age 18: 68.3% of African American lifetime users in 2022
- Past-year marijuana edibles use among African Americans: 4.2% in 2021
- 29.7% lifetime marijuana use among African American adults 50+ per 2019 data
- NSDUH 2017: Past-month use rate 16.5% for African Americans 12+
- Vaping marijuana past-year: 9.1% among African American youth 2019 NYTS
- Marijuana use disorder prevalence: 8.6% past-year for African American adults 2020
- 2021 urban African Americans past-month marijuana: 22.3%
- NSDUH 2016: 21.4% past-year marijuana for African American males
- Among African American college students, 32.5% past-month marijuana 2022
- Daily marijuana use: 6.8% African American adults Northeast 2021
- Past-year high-potency marijuana: 12.7% African Americans 18-25 2020
- NSDUH 2022: Lifetime use 51.2% African American adults
- Marijuana as first drug: 74.5% for African American users under 21 in 2019
- Past-month use among employed African Americans: 14.9% 2021
- 27.3% past-year marijuana among African American veterans 2018
- NSDUH 2015: 18.2% past-month for African American youth
- Synthetic marijuana past-year: 1.8% African Americans 2022
- 2021 past-month dabs/concentrates: 3.6% African American young adults
Marijuana Use Interpretation
These statistics paint a picture where marijuana is deeply woven into the cultural fabric, yet the thread of use disorder running through it shows that for a significant minority, the tapestry is fraying.
Opioid Use
- In 2020, past-year opioid misuse among African Americans was 6.1%
- Heroin lifetime use: 2.4% African American adults 2021 NSDUH
- Past-month prescription opioid misuse: 2.8% African Americans aged 12+ 2022
- Opioid use disorder: 1.9% past-year for African American adults 2019
- Fentanyl-involved deaths among African Americans rose 38% from 2019-2020
- NSDUH 2018: Past-year heroin use 1.2% African Americans 18+
- Nonmedical opioid use initiation: 45% before 21 for African Americans 2021
- 2022 data: 4.3% past-year pain reliever misuse African American youth
- Among African American males, opioid misuse 7.5% past-year 2020
- Lifetime opioid misuse: 18.6% African American adults 50+ 2019
- NSDUH 2017: 3.1% past-month opioid misuse African Americans
- Oxycodone past-year use: 1.9% African Americans 2021
- Heroin overdose deaths: African Americans 14.5% of total in 2021 CDC
- 2020 rural African Americans opioid misuse: 5.2% past-year
- NSDUH 2016: Opioid use disorder 2.1% African American adults
- Past-year buprenorphine misuse: 0.8% African Americans 2022
- Fentanyl use detected in 42% of African American opioid deaths 2021
- Among African American females 18-25, opioid misuse 4.7% 2019
- NSDUH 2021: Lifetime heroin use 3.2% African American young adults
- Opioid treatment admission: 25% African Americans in 2020 SAMHSA TEDS
- Past-month methadone use: 0.5% African Americans 2022
- Hydrocodone misuse past-year: 2.1% African American adults 2018
- 2021 Southern states: 6.8% opioid misuse African Americans
- NSDUH 2015: 2.9% past-year opioid misuse African Americans 12+
- Naloxone administration in opioid overdoses: 18% African American cases 2020
- Past-year tramadol misuse: 1.3% African Americans 2019
Opioid Use Interpretation
Behind the seemingly modest percentages lies a relentless, multi-fronted siege—from early initiation to soaring death rates—that reveals a crisis systematically deepening its grip within African American communities.
Prevalence Rates
- According to the 2021 NSDUH, 42.5% of African American adults aged 18+ reported lifetime illicit drug use
- In 2020, past-month illicit drug use among African Americans aged 12+ was 18.4%, higher than the national average of 13.1%
- 2022 NSDUH data shows 24.7% of African American youth aged 12-17 used illicit drugs in the past year
- Lifetime marijuana use among African American adults reached 52.3% in 2019 per NSDUH
- Past-year cocaine use among African Americans was 5.2% in 2021, per SAMHSA
- 17.1% of African American adults reported binge drinking combined with drug use in 2020
- NSDUH 2018: 19.6% past-month any illicit drug use for African Americans aged 26+
- Among African American males aged 18-25, past-year illicit drug use was 39.8% in 2021
- 2022 data indicates 14.3% past-month marijuana use among African American adults
- Lifetime hallucinogen use among African Americans was 12.4% in 2019
- Past-year prescription pain reliever misuse among African Americans: 4.7% in 2020
- 28.5% of African American young adults (18-25) reported lifetime illicit drug use in 2022
- NSDUH 2017: 16.8% past-month illicit use for African Americans 12+
- Among African American females, past-year drug use was 22.1% in 2021
- 2021 NSDUH: 8.2% past-year methamphetamine use attempt among African Americans
- Lifetime inhalant use: 9.6% for African American youth in 2019
- Past-month nonmedical use of psychotherapeutics: 3.4% African Americans 2020
- 35.2% lifetime drug use among African American adults 50+ in 2022
- NSDUH 2016: 20.1% past-year illicit use for African American males
- Among urban African Americans, drug use prevalence was 25.4% past year 2021
- 13.7% past-month any drug use for African American seniors 65+ in 2019
- NSDUH 2022: 31.6% lifetime use rate for African American young adults
- Past-year tranquilizer misuse: 2.9% among African Americans 2020
- 18.9% past-month illicit use in African American rural populations 2021
- Lifetime drug use among African American veterans: 44.2% per 2018 VA study linked to NSDUH
- 2021 data: 6.5% past-year crack cocaine use among African Americans
- NSDUH 2015: 15.3% past-month marijuana as primary drug for African Americans
- Among African American high school seniors, 38.7% lifetime drug use 2022 MTF
- Past-year illicit drug use disorder: 7.1% African Americans 2021
- 22.4% past-year any illicit drug use for African American adults in South 2020
Prevalence Rates Interpretation
While the statistics undeniably sketch a landscape of higher-than-average substance use, they trace not a path of moral failure but a map pointing directly to the systemic pressures of healthcare inequity, targeted policing, and economic disparity that have made self-medication a tragically rational, yet devastating, response for many in the African American community.
Sources & References
- Reference 1SAMHSAsamhsa.govVisit source
- Reference 2CDCcdc.govVisit source
- Reference 3NIDAnida.nih.govVisit source
- Reference 4PUBLICHEALTHpublichealth.va.govVisit source
- Reference 5MONITORINGTHEFUTUREmonitoringthefuture.orgVisit source
- Reference 6BJSbjs.ojp.govVisit source
- Reference 7BJSbjs.govVisit source
- Reference 8CDEcde.ucr.cjis.govVisit source
- Reference 9USSCussc.govVisit source
- Reference 10NAACPnaacp.orgVisit source
- Reference 11SENTENCINGPROJECTsentencingproject.orgVisit source
- Reference 12BJAbja.ojp.govVisit source
- Reference 13OJJDPojjdp.ojp.govVisit source
- Reference 14ACLUaclu.orgVisit source
- Reference 15PRISONPOLICYprisonpolicy.orgVisit source
- Reference 16COUNCILONCJcounciloncj.orgVisit source