A study on drug abuse among the undergraduate medical students in Calcutta

A study conducted during 1993 among undergraduate medical students in 2 medical colleges of Calcutta indicated that the prevalence of total and current drug abusers were 48.9% and 27.9% respectively of the respondent student population. The drug abuse rate gradually increased with advancement of each academic year i.e., from 24% in the first year to 74.4% in the final year, being maximum (84.5%) in the age group of 25-29 years. The prevalence among boys (58.4%) was significantly higher than that among girls (25.9%). Hostellers were found to be more drug users than non-hostellers. In the pattern of drug abuse, 12.6% of students used tobacco only and 3.6% alcohol only. Most commonly used combination was alcohol, tobacco and other drugs which constituted 12.7% of students.