Some studies suggest that age of onset is an important determinant of the magnitude of the consequences of drug use, in that younger individuals suffer greater health consequences . In recent decades, health agencies and university authorities have expressed concerns over increasing alcohol consumption and other drugs of abuse such as cannabis and amphetamines among university students . These students are at risk of substance abuse behaviors due to changes in lifestyle, reduced parental support, and stressful situations . In this line, nursing students are also at risk for problems related to substance use . The nursing profession is not immune to the impacts of substance misuse; in fact, rates of substance misuse among nurses are thought to mirror that of the general population . Alcohol and other substance use by nurses potentially place patients, the public, and nurses themselves at risk for serious injury or death . It is critical that rates of substance use in this population are elucidated and that risk factors are understood .

In addition, education studies offered by universities in health sciences should provide knowledge about the harmful health and social consequences of the use and abuse of drugs . The knowledge of the toxic and social effects of drugs abuse is well known by university students; however, the ability to self-care for proper and good health may vary among people . Thus, the high prevalence of illicit drug use among young people , as well as the fatal consequence of this use in health professionals, such as nurses who are in constant contact with patients , highlights the importance of preventing it in this target group. Therefore, it is important to assess students’ consumption at the beginning of university period. While some studies evaluating illegal drug use in university populations have evaluated the prevalence of specific substances, such as cannabis or psycho stimulants, it would be advantageous to consider consumption more generally in this target group . The objective of this study was to understand the pattern of illicit drug use of nursing students from various world universities.In this paper, the pattern of illicit drug use of nursing students from various world universities was tested. For young people entering university for the first time, this stage is a period of maturation and change in health-related habits and lifestyles, including illicit drug use.

The nursing students are not immune to the impacts of substance misuse ; therefore, it is important to assess student consumption at the beginning of this period . Regarding illicit drug patterns, this study is in line with other works carried out in Spain and Europe, where illicit drug shows positive representation among adolescents and young people . In this sense, we found that 36.1% had consumed illicit drugs ever in life. Furthermore, 35.9% had consumed cannabis, 5.8% had consumed cocaine, 6.9% had consumed ecstasy, and 4% had consumed amphetamines ever in life. Besides, 18.1% had consumed cannabis, 2% had consumed cocaine, 2.2% had consumed ecstasy, and 1.4% had consumed amphetamines in the last 30 days. Currently, the effects of illicit drugs, both in the short and long term, are known . In our study, most of participants reported that they have never had problems with their family, friends, schools, or fights as a result of drugs use, emerging as a statistically significant variable in the bivariate analysis. However, some studies highlight that the use of cannabis and cocaine was related to problems in school, unjustified absences, and repetition of a grade, as well as polyconsumption.

Characteristics of illicit drug patterns by gender are also in line with previous studies, whereby illicit drug use was associated with males in a higher proportion . We found that boys had a higher use of illicit drugs, although at later ages than girls, such as cannabis use ever in life, cannabis use in the last 30 days, and cocaine use ever in life, which emerged as a significant association. This is a relevant finding considering that most of the students in the study sample were women studying nursing, and that the opposite was expected, as in the previous study by Colomer-Perez et al. . This suggests that female students possibly faced a perceived higher risk than males for all substances , or instead they may be more knowledgeable and practice healthy habits, in contrast to other studies, which suggest that male students had more heathy habits than girls , i.e., sedentary and overweight lifestyles which are more prevalent among female students compared to male students .Influencing factors were cultural differences between students .