Epidemiological Aspects of the Use of Cannabis among University Students in Greece

Abstract

A survey was conducted among 1,057 students of the University of Ioannina, Greece, investigating the prevalence of cannabis use, the attitude to and the knowledge on cannabis, as well as the intention of students to experiment with other illicit drugs. Students who had tried cannabis amounted to 17.9%, but regular users were 8.7% of the sample. There was an obvious predominance of ‘male users’ (14.4% of the male sample) over ‘female users’ (5.1 % of the female sample). Age was also correlated with cannabis use, since students older than 24 years predominated over the younger ones among regular users (20.8 vs. 6.5%, respectively). Heavy daily tobacco smoking (20 cigarettes or more) and use of psychotropic drugs were also among the factors strongly correlated with cannabis use. The students who admitted a regular use of cannabis expressed their doubt on the harmfulness of the drug and its dependence liability. As a rule, they held strong views on issues pertaining to the properties of cannabis, whereas most of the other respondents often admitted ignorance on the same issues. In addition, regular users declared their willingness to experiment with other illicit drugs, such as cocaine and heroin, if they were available. As for the general attitude towards illicit drugs, cocaine seems to hold a more acceptable place than heroin for all students included in our epidemiological sample.