Prevalence of the drug consumption among Chilean university students

Background: Drug abuse is one of the main public health problems and mostly involves young people. Aim: To determine the prevalence of drug consumption among university students and its associated social factors. Material and Methods: A questionnaire exploring consumption of drugs and social-demographic, economic and religious variables, was applied to 1577 third year students aged 22 2 years (54% females) of a public university. Results: Sixty eight percent of the students were of middle socioeconomic class, 71% belonged to some religion and 29% declared themselves as agnostic. Ninety six percent drank alcohol at least once and 29% never smoked. Among illicit drugs, marijuana was consumed by 22% followed by cocaine in 5.3%, hallucinogenic drugs in 2.6 %, inhalants in 2.3% and cocaine free base in 1.4%. Six percent consumed stimulants and 13.8%, sedatives. A higher economic income facilitated drug consumption and the adscription to a religion was protective against it. Conclusions: Alcohol is the most commonly consumed drug, and is the substance that generates more problems to students. (Rev Med Chile 2011; 139: 856-863).