THE CONSUMPTION OF PSYCHOACTIVE SUBSTANCE S BY ADOLESCENTS IN SCHOOLSIN AN URBAN AREA OF SOUTHEASTERN REGION OF BRAZIL .1. PREVALENCE BY SEX, AGE AND KIND OF SUBSTANCE

Introduction Concern over the consumption of psychoactive substances b y teenagers has given rise to a great wordwide effort to produce infor mation about this phenomenon. This study set our to investigate the pr evalence of consumption of legal and illegal psychoactive substances, its distribution by age, sex and age at first experience of them, amon g teenage pupils in county, Ribeirao Preto, SP, Southeastern Brazil. M aterial and Method A self-applicable questionnaire duly adapted and su bmitted to a reliability test was applied to a proportional sample of 1,025 teenagers enrolled in 8th, 9th, 10th and 11th grads at public an d private city schools. The questionnaire contained questions about th e use often classes of psychoactive substances, demographic questions and validation information, as well as questions about the perception and intrinsic behavior related to drug consumption. Results The sample of 88.9% had consumed alcoholic beverages sometime in their lives, 37 .7% had used tobacco, 31.1% solvents, 10.5% medicines, 6.8% marihuana, 2.7% cocaine, 1.6% hallucinogens, and 0.3% of the sample had consumed some opiate substance. The rates of consumption increased with age fo r all substances; however the use of tobacco and of illegal substances was less intense during the later years of adolescence. As to sex dis tribution, boys consumed more than girls, except for medicines, with g irls consuming barbiturates, amphetamines and tranquilizers in proport ions similar to or higher than those observed among boys. Age at first experience showed that access to psychoactive substances occurred at very early ages. Conclusions Experimenting with psychoactive substance s, whether legal or illegal, is a frequent phenomenon during adolescen ce both among boys and girls, often at very early ages.