[The epidemiology of drug, cigarette and alcohol consumption in young men]

In view of the recent rise in drug consumption, a 3-year longitudinal study of 19-year-old men was conducted to investigate development of consumption behavior. Consumption of cigarettes and alcohol was also considered. The aim was to obtain information about the development of consumption by 19-year-old men (increase, decrease, etc). The follow-up sample consisted of 841 men in the Canton of Zurich who had been selected from a complete survey of men born in 1952. They answered a questionnaire at the age of 19 and again three years later. The results show that drug, cigarette and alcohol show a different development of consumption in the ages between 19 and 22 years. The percentage of drug consumers had decreased from 23.3 percent to 14.8 percent. In approximately 4 percent there is a high risk of dependence in addition to absence of social integration. The percentage of cigarette smokers did not change (approximately 53 percent), but the number of cigarettes smoked per day increased. For alcohol there is a general increase in consumption. For all three substances, heavy consumption at the age of 19 increases the risk of heavy consumption at the age of 22.