Introduction:

The consumption of alcohol and illicit drugs has a detrimental effect to the health of adolescents.

Objective:

To determine the frequency of alcohol and illicit drugs consumption in high school adolescents.

Methods:

Descriptive, cross-sectional study conducted in a pre-university institution of Lima Norte. The consumption of alcohol was evaluated by means of the Test for the identification of disruptions due to alcohol consumption. Data was collected in July, 2018.

Results:

The sample included 815 adolescents, 63.1% (n=514) were males and the difference were females. Of the other illicit drugs consumed at some time, 1.8% (n=15) referred cocaine, the 7% (n=57) marijuana, and a 0.9% (n=7) cocaine paste. Regarding to the consumption of alcohol, 35.3% (n=288) consumed any alcoholic beverage; of this fraction, the 15.6% (n=45) turned out to be as high-risk drinking or dependency. The problematic alcohol consumption was mainly in students from 15 to 19 years (p=0.020), tobacco consumers (p < 0.001) and illicit drugs (p < 0.05). Marijuana consumption occurred predominantly in adolescents from state schools (p=0.023) and in tobacco consumers (p=0.001).

Conclusions:

Among high school adolescents there are high risk or dependency drinkers. The problematic alcohol consumption mainly occurs in late adolescence, in tobacco and illicit substances consumers.

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