Cannabis, Alcohol, and the South African Student — 1991 ·

Adolescent Drug Use, 1974-1985

By Brian M. du Toit

Du Toit examines the results of two surveys which he made a decade apart among high school students of Black, Indian, White, and Colored backgrounds. The initial survey showed some acceptance of the use of these substances among a small proportion of high school students but a high degree of intolerance of such use by the majority. Over a ten–year period, the attitudes of the different population groups changed somewhat.

The decade represented in this study saw major changes in social and political conditions in South Africa. These changes tended to reduce the significance of cultural factors influencing cannabis use among members of the black population.

Brian M. du Toit is a professor of Anthropology at the University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida.