Psychoactive substances are compounds with varying legal statuses. New psychoactive substances mimic the effects of classical drugs but present a challenge for legislators and law enforcement due to continuous new analogs of parent compounds,. Their long-term effects are limited, while access is easy, especially to the youth. The field of psychoactive substances has limited data in Slovenia and internationally, with significant impact of SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. Thus, we decided to assess the use of psychoactive substances, focusing on new ones, among students at Slovenian universities and examined changes due to the pandemic. Data collection was conducted using an online platform (1ka) in April-June 2021. 938 individuals completed the survey, of which 319 completed it correctly. For analysis we used descriptive statistics and compared them with studies. The majority of respondents were female (72%), with the average age being 23.2 years.
44.1% respondents had some knowledge of the new psychoactive substances, which is worrying. These substances were used by 6.6% of respondents once in their lives, main reason being experimenting (85.7% in users, 69.9% in all respondents). 7.9% reported the use of synthetic cannabinoids, while susceptibility of non-users to try these compounds is concerning as only 34% completely rejected the use, and 12% being somewhat open to it which emphasises raising awareness. 1.6% reported the use of synthetic cathinones, while 5.3% did other new substances. The non-users susceptibility for syntetic cathinones is lower (3% being somewhat open to use). More than 15% of respondents rated their mental health during the pandemic more negatively than before the pandemic, more than 30% decrease is also observed in positive assessment of their mental health, which can lead to use of psychoactive substances. The age of first use is much lower for cannabinoids (18.1 years) than for other new substance (average 22 years). Testing of these before use is rare (up to 20%, just 4% for cannabinoids). Pandemic casued a reduction in use of psychoactive substances, exceptions being reports of increased use in the most common usage for: alcohol (1%), cannabis (3.5%), cocaine (2.6%), synthetic cannabinoids (24%) and other new substances (11.8%). Yet, complete abstinence increased during pandemic: 5.4% in alcohol, 4.7% tobacco, 34.7% cannabis, 45.5% amphetamines, 38.8% MDMA, and 30.8% cocaine.
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