[Young men and psychoactive substances]

This study compares prevalence rates of psychoactive substances use in two samples of young men who were called to the Military Service Medical Examination, in Buenos Aires city, in two different periods of time: in 1992, a thousand nine hundred eighty men were included, and in 1994, a thousand four hundred eighty men answered the questionnaire. Same methodological procedures were applied in both periods. Marihuana consumption level showed no changes; little decrease were observed in cocaine declared consumption; alcohol abuse level also declined. Nevertheless, more than 3 of each ten young men recognized an alcoholic ingestion of more of 100 cc of absolute alcohol during the past 30 days before in both studies. Relations between use of legal and illegal psychoactive substances are explored in the 1994 sample.