STUDY OF THE PREVALENCE OF DRUG USE BETWEEN MIDDLE SCHOOL STUDENTS OF A PARTICULAR SCHOOL OF DOURADOS - MS

INTRODUCTION The use of psychotropic substances has become increasingly used in people's lives, especially among students, leading to several negative consequences of prolonged use of these substances. Drugs are classified as illegal, where they are prohibited from being marketed and used, such as cocaine, as well as licit drugs that may be marketed, such as alcohol. Considering the increasing indexes of the use of psychotropic substances, the ASSIST questionnaire, which is used in the early identification of people who use some type of chemical daily or in the last three months, has been elaborated by the world health organization. Therefore, it is verified that the early detection of the user is fundamental to diagnose and program practices aimed at health promotion aiming at the well being of the user and society. MATERIAL AND METHODS The research was conducted at the Anglo College of the city of Dourados, where 50 students were interviewed using ASSIST. Inclusion criteria were: age between 16 and 50 years; agree to participate in the study and sign an informed consent form; not having serious behavior disorders; not being treated for alcohol or other dependencies. Participants were invited to participate in the study through a direct approach, having obtained prior authorization from those responsible for each service. The ASSIST questionnaire was used, which is structured with 8 questions about the use of 9 classes of psychoactive substances (tobacco, alcohol, marijuana, cocaine, stimulants, sedatives, inhalants, hallucinogens, and opiates). Each response corresponds to a score, which ranges from 0 to 8, and the total sum can vary from 0 to 39. For alcohol, the range of 0 to 10 is considered as indicative of occasional use, 11 to 26 as indicative of risk and abuse use, and ? 27 as suggestive of dependence. For the other drugs, the corresponding score ranges are: 0 and 3; 4 and 26 and ? 27. Patients who reach the score and who agree to be part of the study should sign the consent to participate and receive information about the guarantee of anonymity. After applying if the individual achieves alcohol score below what is necessary to include it in the study (0 to 10), it will be dispensed after receiving general information about the possible risks. When the score is above that established for the study (27 or more), you will be alerted to referral to a specialized drug dependency team. However, if your score is between 11 and 26, you should be invited to participate in the study after a brief explanation of the goals. RESULTS In the present study, alcohol was the drug most used in the life of all subjects interviewed, and in the last 20 days about 98% consumed the drug. Tobacco was the second most used drug among patients (65%) and for the other drugs addressed in the questionnaire there was no score. A multiple comparison analysis (ANOVA) for the variable total score in the ASSIST, considering as factors the genders (Male and Female), detected a higher score for alcohol when compared to tobacco and marijuana for both genders, male and female, (2.94) = 0.96, p <0.01, for both). Figura 1. Comparison between the averages of the total score obtained by the ASSIST instrument in the interview with high school students - Averages ± SD of the total scores obtained by the ASSIST instrument for ethanol, tobacco, and marijuana after the interview for males and females (n = 49). * differs from ethanol for females; # differs from ethanol for the genus males (two-way ANOVA followed by the Tukey's test, p?0.05). Figura 2. A Spearman correlation analysis performed for the ethanol and tobacco scores showed a strongly positive correlation (r = 0.70) between the consumption of both drugs, demonstrating that the higher the alcohol score, the higher was the tobacco score. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION The use of drugs among young people has caused several damages in the functioning of the organism and in the development of several activities. The consumption of such drugs has spread rapidly especially among young people, causing them to have contact with this drug as a teenager increasing their chances of becoming a chemical dependent. Among young people, alcohol is the drug most consumed early, among other reasons, because it is a drug that is easily accessible and affordable. People who drink too much alcohol tend to develop severe abstinence, which is accompanied by characteristic signs and symptoms, such as tremors, nervousness, fatigue, mood changes, nausea, tachycardia, and hallucinations. The greater use of the man in relation to the woman is attributed due to the peculiarities of the behavior in relation to the use, this because the man is more prone to the early intake of substances. The consumption of alcohol and tobacco products are licit drugs, where they are easily marketed and can contribute to the high rate of use. Thus, many young people start using drugs very early, contributing to the chemical dependency framework, which should be treated as a public health problem, seeking appropriate forms of treatment to reduce or extinguish the use of these substances. Thus, the use of the questionnaire can serve as a form of prevention of drug abuse, seeking to reduce the high rate of use.