Three times more smokers in Aboriginal communities

The number of smokers is three times higher in Aboriginal communitues than in the wider community a new survey has found.

Conducted by Flinders University, the survey found that 68 per cent of people in the study smoked compared with 21 per cent in the overall population.

The survey also found nearly half of those interviewed did not drink alcohol, compared with less than a quarter of the general population being non-drinkers.

The study also found that racism had a major health effect and that 93 per cent of respondents had experienced racism often or very often.

Health services scored the highest level of trust among the Aboriginal people surveyed, but governments and the law were viewed less favourably.