Smoking tobacco, use of marijuana and other psychoactive substances by students of Silesian universities.

Abstract

These days, it is observed worldwide that the number of smokers drops, however, use of e-cigarettes and other psychoactive substances becomes more popular. This survey was conducted in the years 2019 to 2020 using a group of 193 people, 124 females and 69 males, at two Silesian universities. The purpose of this survey was to estimate patterns concerning use of tobacco and psychoactive substances by students. The survey was conducted by a survey including 27 questions. Most of the surveyed persons (78%) were non-smokers. Among active smokers, 30% of them started smoking at the age of 12 to 15, 45% of them at 16 to 18, and 77% smoked first before 18th birthday. Among smoking subjects, 90% smokes up to 5 cigarettes a day. Most subjects replied that "curiosity" was a cause to start smoking. Students often declared so-called "occasional smoking". Smoking in public bothered most (67%) subjects. Half of subjects declared that they never smoked marijuana. Mostly, students smoking tobacco decided to use marijuana as well. About 6% of subjects used other drugs, aside from marijuana. 3% of subjects tried amphetamine, LSD or ecstasy at least once in life. Tobacco smoking frequency in students of Silesian universities was 22%, that is a level similar to other regions of Poland. Due to variation on the market of psychoactive substances, particularly among young people, continuous surveillance is recommended.