Uses of psychoactive substances among young people in Costa Rica: Comparative analyse of national surveys

The use of psychoactive substances among young people is a social phenomenon that still has little informa - tion to help us estimate the quantity and characteristics of drug users. The aim of this paper is to approach this reality by comparing indicators of drug use in three different national surveys: the National Survey of Youth conducted by the Council of the Young People, the National Survey on Drug Use in Secondary and the National Survey on Drug Use in Household made by the Institute on Alcoholism and Drug Dependece. Despite the differences in methodology of the studies, it was possible to generate estimates of the percentage of usage of several drugs, the results show that alcohol, tobacco and marijuana are the only substances that present rates of use that allow for comparison, as well as a rough estimate of the total of youth drug users nationwide. The conclusions present a reflection of the importance of further epidemiological studies on this area, and its usefulness in the development and implementation of public policies to prevent drug use and health care for young people that have a risky or problematic drug use.

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