An overview of the use of psychoactive substances among students at the University of Lille during the COVID-19 health crisis: Results of the PETRA study

Figures & data

Table 1. Sociodemographic and study characteristics of the student participants.

	N = 4431
Age (years)
Median (IQR)	20 [19–22]
Sex (%)
Women	74.5
Men	25.5
Familial status (%)
In a relationship	35.8
Single	64.2
Housing status (%)
Personal housing (rental and/or shared ownership)	42.5
Lodged by parents/guardians	48.5
University residence	7.9
Other (hostel, homeless, and rent-free)	1.0
Sources of income (%)
Scholarship	45.1
Student employment	17.2
Paid internships	15.4
Parental assistance	48.9
No income	16.9
Field of study
Health and sports^a	28.5
Human and social sciences^b	38.4
Law, economics and management	16.1
Sciences and technology^c	17.1
Year of study (%)
1	38.4
2	21.1
3	16.1
4	10.0
5	9.5
6 or more	5.1
Self-assessment regarding (median, IQR)
Family situation	8 [6-9]
Social situation	7 [5-8]
Income situation	7 [5-9]
Academic situation	6 [4-7]

^a Includes Health + Science and techniques of physical and sports activities fields.

^b Includes Human and Social Sciences + art, literature and language fields.

^c Includes Sciences and Technology + University Institutes of Technology fields.

Table 2. Patterns of substance use among students.

	Use since first entering university (%)	Ever felt addicted^a(%)	Current frequency of consumption^a (%) 1. Less than once a month 2. Once a month 3. Once a week 4. Every day or almost every day
Free-access psychoactive substances
			1	2	3	4
Alcohol	80.0	12.6	37.2	21.8	34.5	6.6
Tobacco^b	40.3	52.4	NA^b
Nitrous oxide	6.8	3.0	98.4	1.0	0.7	0.0
Sulbutiamine	0.6	7.1	75	0.0	3.6	21.4
Use of prescription drugs
Benzodiazepines	15.4	34.1	57.7	12.0	10.7	19.6
Opioids	14.7	18.6	82.6	7.5	4.6	5.2
Corticoids	8.5	6.3	81.3	4.2	3.4	11.1
Beta-blockers	3.1	14.0	56.6	7.3	2.9	33.1
Methylphenidate	0.7	33.3	40.0	6.7	10.0	43.3
Modafinil	0.4	18.8	37.5	12.5	25.0	25.0
Piracetam	0.2	11.1	44.4	33.3	0.0	22.2
Use of illegal drugs
Amphetamine and/or methamphetamines prescription drugs	2.1	30.0	58.9	16.7	8.9	10.0
Cannabis	34.0	23.8	69.8	9.1	6.4	10.0
Cocaine	7.5	23.0	86.8	9.8	2.9	0.6
MDMA	6.5	12.8	91.7	6.6	1.7	0.0
Amphetamines	5.7	20.5	72.8	8.3	4.3	14.6
Mushrooms	4.0	1.1	98.3	1.1	0.6	0.0
LSD	2.4	4.0	97.0	3.0	0.0	0.0
Methamphetamine	1.5	19.4	90	6.0	0.0	4.5
NPS	0.9	17.1	75.6	12.2	4.9	7.3
GHB	0.8	11.8	91.2	5.9	2.9	0.0
Heroin	0.2	50	100	0.0	0.0	0.0

^a Among students who have used the substance since first entering university.

^b Current frequency of tobacco use in different categories, with 48.3% of the students reporting smoking less than once per month, 6.9% once per month, 10.8% once per week, 26.3% 1–10 cigarettes/day, 6.6% 11–20 cigarettes/day, and 1.1% more than 20 cigarettes per day.

GHB: gamma-hydroxybutyric acid; LSD: lysergic acid diethylamide; MDMA: 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine; NPS: new psychoactive substances

Table 3. Reason for use.

Reason for use*	1 (%)	2 (%)	3 (%)	4 (%)	5 (%)	6 (%)	7 (%)	8 (%)	9 (%)	10 (%)
Free-access psychoactive substances
Alcohol	0.9	0.5	81.9	1.6	0.2	1.6	0.2	9.2	0.0	20.2
Tobacco	19.2	9.1	52.3	5.2	0.0	0.1	6.4	19.1	0 .2	27.7
Nitrous oxide	0.3	0.7	86.1	3.0	0.0	0.3	0.0	34.0	1.0	2.3
Sulbutiamine	85.7	46.4	0.0	0.0	3.6	0.0	0.0	10.7	17.9	14.3
Use of prescription drugs
Benzodiazepines	6.7	1.9	10.3	2.5	0.4	0.2	0.9	2.9	78.3	17.0
Opioids	2.3	2.2	11.7	0.8	0.9	0.3	0.9	4.2	74.0	9.7
Corticoids	2.90	2.90	0.8	0.0	0.8	0.0	0.0	0.5	91.8	5.8
Beta-blockers	8.8	1.5	3.7	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.7	88.2	14.7
Methylphenidate	56.7	43.3	3.3	3.3	10.0	0.0	10.0	3.3	66.7	6.7
Modafinil	75.0	87.5	6.3	6.3	6.3	0.0	18.8	31.3	31.3	0.0
Piracetam	33.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	22.2	0.0	44.4
Use of illegal drugs
Amphetamine and methamphetamines prescription drugs	8.9	2.2	10.0	0.0	2.2	0.0	0.0	3.3	28.9	38.9
Cannabis	7.3	3.1	86.6	6.3	0.6	3.1	2.8	26.0	2.9	9.2
Cocaine	17.8	33.3	85.1	14.9	3.5	8.1	2.9	41.4	0.0	1.7
MDMA	2.4	10.0	92.7	6.2	1.7	7.3	2.1	37.4	0.0	1.7
Amphetamines	9.1	15.4	70.5	7.5	1.2	6.3	3.5	30.3	18.1	4.7
Mushrooms	1.1	4.5	88.7	2.8	0.0	0.0	0.0	52.0	0.6	1.1
LSD	4.0	12.0	84.2	3.0	0	4.0	2.0	66.3	2.0	5.0
Methamphetamines	11.9	26.9	82.1	10.5	0.0	9.0	6.0	41.8	0.0	4.5
NPS	14.6	26.8	65.9	12.20	4.9	17.1	7.3	61.0	2.4	2.4
GHB	5.9	8.2	44.1	5.9	0	32.4	0	38.2	2.9	33.3
Heroin	12.5	12.5	62.5	37.5	12.5	12.5	12.5	25.0	12.5	25.0

* The students could report multiple reasons for use for a given substance

1: Helps with concentration

2: Improves alertness and wakefulness

3: Search for a recreational effect (exhilaration, euphoria, and fun)

4: Balances the effect of other drugs during the drug break

5: Improvement of physical abilities (muscle mass gain)

6: Improvement of sexual abilities

7: Weight loss

8: Experimentation (testing new psychoactive drugs)

9: Medical treatment

10: Others

GHB: gamma-hydroxybutyric acid; LSD: lysergic acid diethylamide; MDMA: 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine; NPS: new psychoactive substances.

Table 4. Routes of administration of the various psychoactive substances used*.

Routes of administration	Oral (%)	Smoked (%)	Injected (%)	Snorted (%)	Inhaled (%)	Others (%)
Free-access psychoactive substances
Sulbutiamine	100	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
Use of prescription drugs**^∗∗
Benzodiazepines	100	0.2	0.7	0.9	0.0	0.0
Opioids	98.5	0.9	3.4	1.2	0.0	0.0
Corticoids	82.6	0.3	2.6	0.5	7.9	0.0
Beta-blockers	99.3	0.0	0.7	0.0	0.0	0.7
Methylphenidate	100	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
Modafinil	87.5	0.0	6.3	6.3	12.5	0.0
Piracetam	100	11.1	11.1	11.1	0.0	0.0
Use of illegal drugs
Amphetamine and methamphetamines prescription drugs	91.1	6.7	1.1	12.2	2.2	0.0
Cannabis	20.3	93.9	0.0	0.4	11.8	1.1
Cocaine	7.5	12.6	1.2	96.7	0.0	0.0
MDMA	98.3	1.4	0.7	22.2	0.7	0.0
Amphetamines	85	6.7	1.6	40.2	2.8	1.2
Mushrooms	98.9	2.3	0.0	0.0	0.6	2.3
LSD	100	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
Methamphetamine	34.3	11.9	1.5	76.1	1.5	0.0
NPS	48.8	9.8	7.3	58.5	4.9	7.3
GHB	85.3	8.8	0.0	0.0	8.8	2.9
Heroin	0.0	50.0	50.0	37.5	12.5	0.0

* The students could report multiple routes of administration for a given substance. The routes of administration of alcohol, tobacco, and nitrous oxide were not explored in this study because for the most part, they were taken orally, smoked or inhaled, respectively. 

∗∗ Note that some prescription drugs exist in different routes of administration in medical use: (i) oral, inhaled or injectable for corticoids; (ii) oral and injectable for opioid-based drugs, beta-blockers and some benzodiazepines; (iii) oral only for methylphenidate, modafinil and piracetam.

GHB: gamma-hydroxybutyric acid; LSD: lysergic acid diethylamide; MDMA: 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine; NPS: new psychoactive substances

Table 5. Substance use since first entering university according to the field of study.

	Health and sport (%)	Human and social sciences (%)	Law, economics and management (%)	Sciences and technology (%)	Q obs (Pearson)	p
Free-access psychoactive substances
Alcohol	79.1	81.1	80.9	78.0	4.1	0.25
Tobacco	33.5	45.5	43.3	37.4	48.1	<0.001
Nitrous oxide	11.3	4.9	5.2	5.3	54.3	<0.001
Sulbutiamine	1.1	0.2	0.8	0.5	9.5	0.02
Use of prescription drugs
Benzodiazepines	13.3	19.7	12.4	12.3	38.4	<0.001
Opioids	13.1	16.4	14.4	14.0	6.7	0.08
Corticoids	9.3	8.7	8.2	7.5	2.1	0.56
Beta-blockers	3.3	3.8	1.7	2.4	8.86	0.03
Methylphenidate	0.5	0.8	0.6	0.9	1.8	0.62
Modafinil	0.6	0.2	0.4	0.5	3.6	0.31
Piracetam	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.0	3.6	0.31
Use of illegal drugs
Amphetamines and methamphetamines prescription drugs	0.3	0.9	0.3	0.4	223.7	<0.001
Cannabis	28.6	38.5	34.4	32.9	31.7	<0.001
Cocaine	3.4	4.7	4.6	2.5	8.3	0.04
MDMA	4.9	8.4	4.8	6.6	18.8	<0.001
Amphetamines	4.3	7.1	5.5	5.3	11.3	0.01
Mushrooms	3.6	5.1	2.4	3.6	11.1	0.01
LSD	1.6	3.1	1.8	2.0	9.1	0.03
Methamphetamine	1.0	2.2	1.3	1.1	8.3	0.04
NPS	0.7	1.3	1.0	0.4	5.5	0.14
GHB	0.9	0.7	0.7	0.9	0.8	0.85
Heroin	0.0	0.1	0.3	0.5	8.1	0.04

GHB: gamma-hydroxybutyric acid; LSD: lysergic acid diethylamide; MDMA: 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine; NPS: new psychoactive substances.

Significant p-values (p < 0.05) are highlighted in bold.