Attached
Background; Extensive researches targeting.the university undergraduates show significantly high usage of all forms
of recreational drugs among them. Yet; very few researches are focused on the new university entrants as the target
group which is essential to understand the gravity of the problem of drug usage in local universities.
Method: Descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted using a self-administered questionnaire on 1800 university
entrantsduringtheirleadership-trainingworkshopforthreeconsecutiveyears. ;
Results: Male to female ratio was 3:7. Age ranged from 19 to 21 years. All districts and all educational-streams (arts,
science, medicine, law, etc) were well represented. 5% of males and 0.25% of females consumedalcohol. 2% of males
and 0.0% females smoked cigarettes. Alcohol consumption was limited mostly to beer. Frequency of consumption of
liquor and smokes was occasional in both genders. No females consumed cannabis, opiates, cocaine,
amphetamines, benzodiazepines, volatile substances or therapeutic agents: 0.5% males consumed cannabis. Only
one male (out of 544 males) had taken methamphetamines (Ecstasy) twice in his life-time. No habitual users or
addicts were found with reference to all types of recreational drugs, alcohol or tobacco products tested in the
questionnaire.
Conclusion: Consumption of alcohol, cigarette/tobacco products and recreational drugs is very low among new
university entrants in Sri Lanka, As contemporary research show a significantly high rate of consumption of the same
among undergraduates, more attention should be paid to understand and counter-act the factors promoting drug
culture inside state universities
