Characteristics of drug consumption among high school students

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate the prevalence of drug use severity among high school students. This is a descriptive, exploratory study, with a quantitative approach which had the participation of 933 students from four different high schools in a municipality from the Northern Region of Ceará state. We used the questionnaire for screening the use of alcohol, tobacco, and other substances (ASSIST-WHO) for data collection. The data were stored in the Microsoft Excel version 2016 program and, to assess possible associations between the categories, we used Chi-square tests. We observed that, out of the nine classes of drugs, the most used were: alcoholic beverages, marijuana, and tobacco, followed by inhalants and cocaine/crack. The prevalence of severity in the schools with the indication for brief intervention for alcoholic beverages was as follows: A (23.5%), B (12.4%), C (13.4%), and D (15.4%). As for marijuana, we have: A (14.6%), B (3%), C (7.1%), and D (6.7%). In this scenario, school A presents a concern in relation to the others because it presents greater severity for alcohol and marijuana, with the need for a brief intervention. We perceive that studies that understand the context in which students are inserted are essential and that interventional actions do not focus on drugs themselves, but on adolescents and their needs, which becomes a central challenge for articulated intersectoral policies for health and education, alongside the family.