DOI: 10.36347/sjams.2018.v06i02.045

Pages: 702-706

Substance use is found worldwide including among students. We carried out this study to estimate the prevalence of substance use among medical students studying in a medical college in eastern India. It is observed that medical students undergo tremendous stress during training. Repeated use of drugs can impair essential decision making and lead to difficulties in academic and social activities. Using a validated questionnaire a cross-sectional survey was conducted among 200 undergraduate medical students in a government medical college in a metropolitan city. The prevalence of substance use was 32 percent (65/200) among medical students. An increase in substance use was observed in the latter years of medical education. The most common reasons for substance use were relief from psychological stress (47/65, 72%). Nearly one-third of medical students use substance despite knowing the ill effects with the main predisposing factor being the psychological stress.