[Relation between illicit drug use and personal problems related to consumption in students; analysis of a self-administered questionnaire].

An anonymous self-administered questionnaire on psychotropic drugs was completed by 3,212 students, with a response rate of 95.1%. A proportion of 28.1% reported the consumption of illicit drugs during the year preceding the study. The prevalence of personal problems related to psychotropic drugs averaged 13.2% among drug users, compared with 3.8% among those who consumed alcohol only. The percentages of students reporting these problems increased progressively among those who consumed cannabis, hallucinogens, solvents and cocaine, while the proportions of users for these substances decreased respectively in the same order. The inverse relationship observed for these different drugs between the proportion of users and the prevalence of personal problems suggests that a marginal consumption is accompanied by increased difficulties among users. Measurement of the use of different illicit drugs among students could represent an index for the prevalence of personal problems related to drugs.