Substance use among Dutch dental students

Objectives: The objectives were to assess the prevalence of substance use a mong Dutch dental students and to determine their attitudes about substance use and its consequences. Methods: In association with a national study of drug use among US dental students, a questionnaire was translated from Eng lish into Dutch and administered to dental students at two dental schools i n The Netherlands. Students received an anonymous 115-item questionnaire in the fall of 1996. Results: Alcohol was the students' drug of choice for li fetime (95%), past year (94%) and past month (88%) use. No significant corr elations were found between alcohol use and gender, schools, and years in d ental education. In the past month, 58% of students reported drinking on 5 or more days; 53% had 5 or more drinks on the same occasion, 20% had 5 or m ore drinks on the same occasion on 5 or more days; and 17% reported getting drunk at least monthly. Prevalence rates for past month use of tobacco was 24% and marijuana, 4%. Male students smoked twice as much as females, with significant differences found for all three periods of use (X-2>19.00, P<0 .01). When asked whether their schools offered policies and education progr ams on alcohol and other drugs, 52% of students reported that these were no t available. Conclusions: Dental schools should develop effective programme s to educate students about responsible use of alcohol and other licit and illicit drugs. Schools should also inform students about their susceptibili ties to substance abuse and dependency.