Markers of ethnicity and their effect on measuring illicit drug use by ethnic groups

Assessing the relative involvement of ethnic communities with illicit drugs relies on identification of ethnicity in collected information. Many of th e indicators of ethnicity used in Victorian drug- and alcohol-related datab ases fail to provide researchers with adequate information to accurately de termine ethnic or cultural orientation. Country of birth is the variable mo st commonly used to identify ethnicity, but it conceals Australian-born chi ldren of migrants who may identify primarily with their ethnic background. The self-identified 'ethnic/cultural background' variable collected in the Victorian methadone registry allowed us to show that many second-generation migrants do identify primarily with their ethnic/cultural background. Of t he methadone permit forms examined, 31% identified the applicant as belongi ng to one of 70 different ethnic/cultural background groups. The most commo n ethnic groups were Vietnamese (22%), Greek (16%) and Italian (15%). The V ictorian methadone registry implies that illicit drug use among a number of ethnic minority communities is substantial, unlike all other Victorian dat abases, which lack good ethnicity measures. Health-related databases should reflect the multi-cultural nature of the Victorian population; the inclusi on of better ethnicity variables can allow an improved measurement about th e extent of illicit drug use in ethnic minority communities and therefore i lluminate a number of important education and service delivery issues.