Educational and prevention campaigns. A review on the use of psychoactive substances in Colombian university students

The consumption of psychoactive substances in Colombia has increased, both legal and illegal, especially in university students, if we review the national studies on consumption developed by the Colombian Drug Observatory (2016), we can conclude that not only does consumption increase, but the age of onset decreases, which also constitutes greater needs for care in specialized services for substance abuse. Research questions arise: what are the substances consumed by young university students in Colombia? What risk and protective factors are prioritized in university contexts for the prevention of substance abuse? The objectives of this research were: to identify which drugs are being consumed by young people and how the foundations of prevention programs are established. Methodologically, to carry out the present narrative review, a search was carried out in PubMed, Lilacs, Scielo, Dialnet databases. A chain search was also performed and other studies were located using bibliographic reference lists of the studies retrieved in the primary search. This is a narrative review was carried out under criteria of international standards. The critical evaluation of the articles consisted of the complete reading of the study, its evaluation and filling of the data collection instrument. Those studies published in duplicate or found in more than one database were considered only once. Once all the sources were integrated, it was decided to organize the evidence found by cities, consumption substances, risk perception, risk and protection factors. The results show an emphasis on the consumption of alcohol and tobacco. Marijuana as an illegal substance is the most consumed and considered the initiation channel for other substances. After these, relatively significant use of inhalants, cocaine and LSD is shown. It is evident that the consumption of psychoactive substances presents a behavior similar to that reported by epidemiological studies, the prevalence of consumption is higher for legal substances, as well as the age of onset is lower for these. In conclusion, the following stand out as risk factors: the life cycle and ease of access; and as a protective factor: satisfaction with the career and a positive vision of the future. With this panorama, the Ministry of National Education of Colombia (MEN) (2008) proposes as a strategy to reduce academic dropout, the creation of psychological support programs for students that are focused on the identification and monitoring of people at risk of consumption of psychoactive substances. It is necessary to build campaigns within the framework of social advertising in two scenarios: one, communications conceptualized by professionals towards public awareness training; and two, prevention campaigns to focus on areas and foci of influence, sectored and atomized to specific problems, specific substances and target adopting public. Likewise, the preventive practices that must be incorporated must aim at three areas: recognition of the negative consequences of drug abuse; clear, systematic and efficient communication; and to the promotion of sound decision-making by young people. The promotion of mental health in national health systems and professional health organizations need prevention campaigns with the participation of communities. Within the limitations of this study, this article is the product of the narrative review carried out for Colombia, as it is described geographically, only characterization of three of the regions is obtained and with a strong emphasis on studies of the capital city (Bogota), the other two regions that are not described are areas with an active presence of illicit crops that generate a permanent relationship of the communities with the substances, and even with indigenous groups with consumption associated with their cultural identity, aspects that are not reflected by not have information on these areas.