Introduction:

At the global and national level there is concern about the constant increase in the consumption of legal and illegal drugs among young people, including university students. The use and abuse of legal and illegal drugs and art have traditionally been associated, however, there is little scientific evidence about this association in university students. Therefore, the purpose of this article was to analyze the consumption of legal and illegal drugs in students enrolled in the academic area of ​​arts at a public university in Mexico.

Method:

The study design was cross-sectional. The source of information was the database derived from the questionnaire for Drug Use in University Students (CODEU-2) used in the Second Diagnoses of Perception, risk and drug use in university students carried out in a public university in the State of Veracruz, Mexico. This questionnaire was applied online on the LimeSurvay platform to students of all periods / semesters. To identify the differences between variables, the Fisher’s exact test and chi-square were used, a significance level of 0.05 was considered. In addition, a multiple correspondence analysis was carried out to characterize students who consume legal and illegal drugs.

Results:

The analysis of the consumption of illegal drugs in the last twelve months showed that 30.7 % of the Arts students had used marijuana, 9.4 % medical drugs without a prescription, 6.8 % hallucinogens, 4.2 % cocaine, and 3.6 % methamphetamines. Regarding the consumption of legal drugs, the AUDIT test showed that 62.21 % presented low risk consumption, 20.35 % moderate risk consumption, 2.91 % high risk, and 2.32 % very high risk. Regarding the problematic consumption of marijuana, 41.84 % showed low risk consumption, 12.27 % moderate risk and 5.10 % high risk. In the multiple correspondence analysis, four groups were identified for students who consumed legal drugs, and in the consumption of illegal drugs, three groups were formed.

Discussion or Conclusion:

Drug use in Arts students is worrying. It is recommended to develop more and better preventive strategies aimed at young people characterized by the vocation and need to be creative.