The Prevalence of Drug Abuse among University Students in Tehran

This study was carried out to determine the prevalence of drug use among university students in Tehran. 2997 students studying in 2005-2006 the academic year who were randomly selected from six universities in Tehran were evaluated. All students responded to a questionnaire which was designed to measure the prevalence of drug use. Arrangement was made with the instructor of each selected class and questionnaires were administered by a trained drug prevention liaison in classes. The study showed a relatively high prevalence of soft drugs [water pipe (34%), cigarette (24%) and alcohol (17%)], and a low prevalence of hard drugs [opium (2.3%), hashish (2.2%), and ecstasy (0.7%)]. Female students had lower rates of drug use in comparison to male students for all drugs and the long life, last year and last month drug use rate of non-dormitory students was significantly higher than dormitory resident students for most drugs (p<0.05). Although the prevalence of drug use among Tehran university students is low in comparison with American or European students, due to the high prevalence of tobacco use with water pipes and the lack of preventive interventions, policy makers should pay higher attention and support to this matter. �