Abstract

CALDERON-ROMERO, Eliana Andrea  and  CALIZ-ROMERO, Nelly Esther. Youth and University: Subjects and Scenarios for Critical and Self-Reflective Debate on the Use of Legal and Illegal Psychoactive Drugs. Rev. Gerenc. Polit. Salud [online]. 2015, vol.14, n.28, pp.123-141. ISSN 1657-7027.  https://doi.org/10.11144/Javeriana.rgyps18-28.juse.

The purpose of this research was to understand the reasons that led a group of young university students into the use of legal and illegal psychoactive drugs. This is a qualitative case study research, with a phenomenological design, with the participation of 32 students. The research techniques used were participant observation, non-participant observation, and focus groups. For data analysis we applied moment distinction, phenomenological reductions; and open, axial, and selective codification criteria. The main results show that the most used substances are alcohol, tobacco, and marihuana; regarding motivations, these are associated to family and academic settings, relationship with peers, personal decision, micro-traffic of illegal substances, and commerce of legal substances. Drug use turns into a network of social determinations around which the University could open a critical and self-reflective debate, focused on the subject and not on the substances.

Keywords : illegal drugs; teenagers; social determinants of health; universities; drug users; personal autonomy.

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