Substance use among senior medical students: a survey of 23 medical schools

Previous studies on substance use (alcohol, tobacco and illicit drugs) by medical students have generally involved only one school or geographic area, and thus their results may not be applicable to all medical students. A questionnaire about substance use was answered anonymously by over 2,000 senior medical students from 23 schools. Over 90 percent of the substances used were first tried before medical school, with the exception of tranquilizers. When questioned about what penalties, if any, should be assessed against practicing physicians who use or abuse various substances, the students' recommendations were increasingly severe depending on the frequency of use and the degree of impairment by the hypothetical physicians in question. In comparison with their less educated peers, the medical students generally tended to use the various substances less frequently. The most commonly used substances among the medical students were alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana. Understanding the trends of substance use and abuse among medical students might assist schools and the medical profession to develop policies to address the issue. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.)