Detection of drugs abuse among Medicine students in a private university

Abstract

Drug abuse among universitarians is an increasing issue. Rates of alcohol and illegal drugs abuse can be higher in the universitarian population than in the general one. OBJECTIVE: This research aims to detect what drugs are used by Medicine students of Positivo University (Universidade Positivo) and to correlate associated caracteristics. METHOD: It was applied a virtual adaptation of the ASSIST (Alcohol, Smoking and Substance Involvement Screening Test) questionnaire to all (209) Medicine students during 106 days in 2006. RESULTS: Eighty-eight (42%) of the students took part in it. Most were single (88%) between 17 and 25 years old (85%). Seventy-eight percent consumed alcohol at least once; the use of tobacco was of 38,64%; cannabis got 26,14% of use, inhalants were used for 21,59% and stimulants for 11,36%. DISCUSSION: The results found match studies from other universities and also showed a high number of drug users, especially for alcohol. It's a worrying situation and points out the importance of having proper education in preventing drug addiction. CONCLUSIONS: The University enviroment clearly influenciates drug abuse and new prevention strategies are needed.

ASSIST; abuse of drugs; students of medicine course