The situation of substance use among students in Mexico City. Measurement of Fall 1997.

This study is part of the epidemiological monitoring of drug use which has been conducted by the Ministry of Education (SEP) and the Mexican Institute of Psychiatry (IMP) for more than 20 years. The present paper includes the most important results of the measurement carried out during the fall of 1 997, regarding the prevalence of drug, alcohol and tobacco use in Mexico Ci ty, several factors related to consumption as well as the relationship betw een the adolescents and their parents and teachers. The study was conducted using a random sample of 10,173 students in the Federal District with a tw o-stage (school-group) and stratified (junior high, high school and technic al high school) sample design where the last selection unit was the school group. The results are representative of every district and education level ; in addition, the design is comparable to previous studies carried out by IMP and SEP. The sample frame consisted in the 96-97 school admission regis ter; once it was refined a random sample was extracted for every district a nd education level. The age of the students ranged from 12 to 22 years with a meanage of 14; 48.1% were males and 51.9% females. The results show a) a significant increase in cocaine use, specially among females, b) that the use of inhalants takes place mainly during junior high whereas the use of other substances such as marijuana and cocaine is prese nt among senior high school students, c) drug use is higher in some distric ts: Venustiano Carranza (cocaine), Cuauhtemoc, Coyoacan and Tlalpan (mariju ana), Azcapotzalco, Iztacalco and Iztacalco (inhalants). Based on these results, some simple preventive measures are proposed such a s a) participation of parents in order to establish norms and values starti ng in the early childhood, b) reinforcement by the teacher as an important agent for prevention and support for children and adolescents, c) the use o f the school facilities to foster recreation, sports and education activiti es that may influence the community and d) reinforcement of the framework, actions and scope of the prevention program created by SEP (PEPCA).