Objective:

To describe the prevalence of consumption of legal and illegal substances in students of a medicine faculty, of a public University.

Methodology:

A descriptive, cross-sectional study was carried out with 252 students to whom a survey composed by three instruments was applied, version for self-study.

Results:

The substances that were consumed at the time of the survey were in their order, alcohol (75.8%), tobacco (14.3%), marijuana (6%), cocaine-(1.2%). It was found that (53.6%) consumed some type of substance before entering university. Pleasure was the greatest motivation for consumption. Due to, substance effects the (7.9%) has had disciplinary problems and the (16.3%) has thought and / or tried to commit suicide.

Discussion:

The social representation of consumption can influence the frequency of consumption, perhaps that is why alcohol is the most consumed substance, tobacco and marijuana in a less proportion, possibly due to the social stigmatization that produces their consumption.

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