Study on the Use of Alcohol and its Relation with the Use of Ilicit Drugs and Undergraduation Area of São Paulo, Brazil
Authors: Olcerenko Bianca Giovanna Batista , Ilg Helena Bossolla , Mendes Maria Clara Chaves , Taricano Ingrid Dragan 
Published: June 2021

The purpose of this investigation was to compare the individual and combined consumption of the illicit and the licit drugs by undergraduate people in São Paulo, Brazil. This practice is increasing worldwide, alcohol is widely available and aggressively promoted throughout society and among them, is the most consumed drug. The popularity and easy access to alcohol reinforce the need of a further research in this area for the development of awareness‐raising policies. The abusive use of alcohol among undergraduate students envolves their health with a poor academic performance, as well as the associated risk behaviors. Several researches are made on the prevalence of drug use, but epidemiology among this practice is still scarce. Since there is no detailed data on the consumption of this specific population, the objective of the present study was to describe the relationship between the alcohol use in the undergraduate area courses, its association with the use of the illicit drugs and the age of first consumption.

METHODOLOGY

These data was collected on the north, south, east, west and central regions of the city of São Paulo, Brazil (the most important metropolis of the country) through a Google forms™ platform questionnaire and some electronic device with access to the internet.

RESULTS

Data obtained showed that in a sample of 907 students, 65.5% use alcoholic beverages and the majority inside of these (15.5%) started using alcohol at 15 years old, 16.3% use once a week and 20.1% associated drinking with illicit drugs.

CONCLUSIONS

The undergraduate courses areas of graduation that consumed the majority is health. These findings suggest that the alcohol intake for under 18s a is very important reality and that is necessary to educate and to prevent the alcohol use, and the concomitant use with the illicit drugs. The beginning of the university is an important transition to adulthood with the related stresses of living independently and coping with the new experiences of the university life. Many individuals operate under the assumption that drinking is a “rite of passage” into college life, where young “adults” are free from parental supervision for the first time in their lives where the environmental and the peer influences create an expectation that tolerates, approves and promotes the culture of drinking. The alcohol consumption phenomenon demands an approach of which permits a comprehensive assessment of the consequences and the social impact. Granting information and fundamental the inputs for decision‐making in the fields of prevention and control. This work was conducted in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation (institutional and national) and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2000. CAAE(Br)67881517.1.0000.5511. All participants had full understanding and signed informed consent document.

This abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2018 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal.