Extent and patterns of drug use by students at a Spanish university

Resumen

A drug-use survey of 1,010 randomly chosen students at the University of Oviedo in Spain was carried out in 1986. The survey instrument used was a self-administered questionnaire. During the 12 months before the survey, 91 per cent of the students had used alcohol, 57 per cent tobacco, 17 per cent cannabis, 9 per cent tranquillizers, 5 per cent amphetamines, 2 per cent cocaine, 2 per cent hallucinogens, 1 per cent opiates and 0.6 per cent volatile solvents. At some time in their lives, 96 per cent of the students had used alcohol, 70 per cent tobacco, 31 per cent cannabis, 19 per cent tranquillizers, 15 per cent amphetamines, 5.5 per cent hallucinogens, 5 per cent cocaine, 3 per cent opiates and 3 per cent volatile solvents. Both male and female students had begun using volatile solvents early in life. The age of first cannabis use for the majority of users was between 16 and 18. The users of other illicit drugs covered by the study had not begun using them until they were 18 or older.