NCJ Number
166043
Date Published
1995
Length
48 pages
Annotation
Students at the University of Maryland at College Park were surveyed from September through November 1994 regarding their drug use.
Abstract
The 1,151 participants were a random sample of all undergraduate and graduate classes. The questionnaires were self-administered. Results revealed that alcohol continues to be the most widely used drug among these students. One-fifth of the students who used alcohol in the past year reported having had multiple alcohol-related problems. Marijuana was the most widely used illicit drug; 1 in 4 students reported using marijuana at least once in the year prior to the survey. Eight percent of the students reported using inhalants at least once in the past year. Students with a grade point average below 2.5 were twice as likely as the total student population to use alcohol or marijuana nearly daily. In addition, fewer students disapproved of illicit drug use in 1994 than in 1991. The major change in student drug use since 1991 was a significant increase in marijuana use among first-year students. The use patterns of first-year students and high school seniors suggests that the college students are continuing use of marijuana that began in high school. Overall, marijuana and alcohol use was largely consistent with use levels among college students nationwide. Figures, tables, and appended tables and survey instrument