Patterns of drug, alcohol and tobacco use among high school students in Santiago, Chile.

A survey using a self-administered questionnaire, based on a sample of 1,240 students from four public schools in Santiago, showed that 70.1 per cent of the students used alcohol, 56.3 per cent tobacco, 7.3 per cent cannabis, 2.5 per cent tranquillizers, 1.9 per cent stimulants and 0.7 per cent tranquillizers together with stimulants. Frequent alcohol consumption was found among 14.5 per cent of the students, 11.1 per cent of them smoked more than six cigarettes a day and 1.4 per cent smoked cannabis more than once a week. Consumption of these substances were more frequent among students who came from presumably more affluent residential neighbourhoods. Easy access to drugs played an important role in the occurrence of drug abuse.