Prevalence of Life Style Drugs Usage and Perceived Effects among University Students in Dar es Salaam

Abstract

This was a cross-sectional study involving randomly selected university students from University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM) and Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences (MUHAS). Each respondent filled in a consent form prior to an interview. Awareness and prevalence of LSD usage, perceived effects and personal opinions on LSD usefulness were investigated. A total of 310 students (222 males and 88 females) aged between 21 and 35 years were interviewed. About 56.5% (n=175) were non-medical students from UDSM while 135 (43.5%) were medical students from MUHAS. Majority (92%) of the students was aware of LSDs, though only 29.3% of them had used one of 10 tracer LSDs, while 18 (5.8 %) students were uncertain whether they had ever used LSDs or not. Over 81% of LSD users had used alcohols and 43% of those admitted to have been propelled by peer pressure. Euphoria and “good sleep” were the mentioned by 27% of LSDs users as motive for consuming them, while 32.5% said LSDs usage added an extra-financial burden. This is the first study on the prevalence of LDS usage in universities.