DRUG USE IN THE CZECH REPUBLIC UNIVERSITY STUDENTS

I. Beckova*°, P.Visnovsky*

*Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Faculty of Pharmacy, Charles University Praque 1203, Heyrovskeho Hradec Kralova 5 CZ 500 05 Czech Rebuplic.
°Corresponding Author

Summary:
Attitudes to drug addiction and experience with drug abuse were investigated in 3387 undergraduates of the first and third years of 11 different university colleges. A Standard questionnaire, used by the Distrrict Authority, Section of Public Health, in Hradec Kralove, and commonly used in the whole Czech Republic, was employed for the survey. Most respondents were aged from 18 to 25 years and more than a half of them come from towns with more than ten thousand inhabitants. It follows from the obtained results than the drug most widely used by undergraduates is marihuana. Personal experience with talking this drug is stated, in dependence on the type of the faculty, by 13,5 to 50 % of respondents; the highestpercentage is represented by the undergraduates of the Faculty of Pharmacy in Brno. A similar situation has been found in the case of hallucinogens abuse (LSD), were the highest percentage of abusers were again at the Faculty of Pharmacy in Brno (7,7%). The age limit of the first experience with a drug ranges in most respondents between 14 to 23 years of age. In a small percentage of respondents, however, the first use of a drug is reported already below the age of 10. Drug abuse takes place usually at parties, discottheques and rock clubs. The study has also demostrated that availability of drugs in schools is much lower than in places of residence; with increasing age of respondents their knowledge of existence of drugs in schools increases, and their knowledge of drug availability in places of residence decreases. An anlysis of opinions concerning legalisation of drugs in the Czech Republic has revealed a generally tolerant attitude of undergraduatesto permitting the use and distribution of drugs. The most negative viewpoint concerning this problem has been taken by the undergraduates of the Pedagogical Faculty in Hradec Kralove; on the greatest benevolence has been found in the undergraduates of the Faculty of Pharmacy, Charles University, in Hradec Kralove, and those of the University of Pardubice.

Key words:
Drug abuse, Marihuana, Cocaine, LSD, Hashish, Alnagon, Pervitin.