Introduction.

Psychoactive substances are compounds of natural or synthetic origin that, when are introduced orally, nasally, intramuscularly or intravenously cause a direct effect on the central nervous system. The relevance of the study lies on the fact of inquiring university population about the knowledge and practices of psychoactive substance use.

Method.

Quantitative, descriptive, cross-sectional study, with students from the health area of a private university of Barranquilla, in 2016. The population was 4535 students from different programs and the sample was taken from 324 students. The statistical analysis was carried out in frequencies charts and percentages.

Results.

The sample studied had any knowledge about psychoactive substances, 61% indicated that alcohol is stimulating. 91% said that psychoactive substances are harmful to health. The substance with the highest consumption was alcohol (38%), followed by tobacco (5%) and finally, marijuana (2%). The population studied consumes because of curiosity (61%), to have fun (61%), partying (59%), family issues (60%) or to face loneliness and depression (59%).

Conclusions.

Students do not have knowledge about the classification of substances and consumption practices are licit substances.

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