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6 August 2001
Latino Immigration and Substance Abuse
Three-Day Conference Addresses Substance Abuse Issues Among Latinos in the U.S.

SAN DIEGO, CA – While the Bush administration considers a new guest-worker program for Mexican migrant workers, health experts from throughout the United States and Mexico are gathering in San Diego to address substance abuse issues among Latino immigrants in the United States.

For three days, the nationally-renown experts are discussing issues such as: Migrant Farm Workers and Substance Abuse Prevention; Women, Acculturation and Immigration; HIV/AIDS and Substance Abuse Issues Among Hispanics; Domestic Violence and Substance Abuse; and Rave Culture, Club Drugs and Latino Youth, among many others.

“We wanted to bring experts and practitioners to talk about substance abuse issues affecting the Hispanic community and exchange knowledge and information about what works to prevent drug abuse,” said Richard Cervantes, chairperson of the Hispanic Cluster. “The goal is to provide higher quality prevention services to the Latino community.”

Over the past 20 years, the Hispanic community has emerged as one of the fastest growing segments of the U.S. population. That growth is expected to continue and as well as the substance abuse problems among Latinos.

While information is limited, studies on alcohol, tobacco, and other drug use in the Hispanic community show that:

	Latinos have disproportionately higher rates of alcohol use, high-school dropouts, HIV/AIDS, and other health problems.
	Hispanic teens between the ages of 13 to 17 have the highest proportion of reported AIDS cases.
	Mexican Americans exhibit heavier heavy alcohol use with 6.9% compared to 5.1% for the total U.S. population.
	Four out of 10 Mexican-American men with alcohol related problems die before 50 compared to only three out of 10 white men
	Mexican-Americans are twice as likely to get arrested for drunk driving compared to whites and blacks.
	Hispanics are the most targeted community by the alcohol industry because of their much younger population. (Median age is 24 compared to 33.5 for all other groups).
	Neighborhoods with a high density of Latinos have nearly five times more alcohol outlets than in white neighborhoods of the same city.

The substance abuse problems, according to Cervantes, become worse when Latinos begin to get accustomed to the way of life in the United States.

“Male adults tend to drink more heavily,” stated Cervantes. “We’re not exactly sure why that is. Perhaps it is acculturation stress, making the transition or some other type of pressure. We are now beginning to see a pattern.”

Language and cultural differences often represent a barrier to prevention and make Latinos a hard-to-reach population. However, experts agree that prevention programs or strategies should neither begin nor end with information campaigns. Activities should focus on building the desire, resources and the mechanisms to promote healthy behaviors.

“The theme of ‘Latino Immigration and Substance Abuse: Promoting Prevention and Well- Being’ was chosen because of the overwhelming issues impacting immigrants,” said Mary Baum, conference coordinator, adding that the conference findings will be published so that everyone has access to them. “They will serve as the basis for disseminating important prevention and treatment information to educators, practitioners and community-based organizations that serve the Latino community.”

The Hispanic Cluster was established in 1992 by the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention (CSAP) High Risk Youth Branch along with a variety of workgroups. These workgroups or Clusters are designated to promote prevention programming. The Hispanic Cluster, itself, represents a network of substance abuse and health treatment and prevention providers throughout every region of the United States.