Abstract:

Recreational Drug use is the use of psychoactive drugs to induce an altered state of consciousness for pleasure, by modifying the perceptions, feelings and emotions of the user. This can be achieved by using various opioids and stimulants such as marijuana, alcohol consumption, ecstasy, cigarettes etc. These are particularly used to help in alleviating stress, pain, emotional turmoil or just for the sheer pleasure of getting the euphoria like feeling that is attained by usage of these substances. Medical schools seem to have prevalence in simulating a high stress environment especially for students in the program with the high workload and pressure to study all the related topics and manage assignments all within the courses duration. According to a research article entitle “Systemic Review of Depression, Anxiety, and other Academic Medicine by Dyrbe, Liselotte N. MD; Thomas Matthew R. MD; Shanafelt, Talt D. MD” it says that “current educational process may have an inadvertent negative effect on students mental health, with high frequency of depression, anxiety, and stress among medical students.” It also states that “Medical School is a time of significant psychological distress for physicians-in-training.” This is where the recreational drugs play a role in alleviating that stress and act as a coping mechanism for students. The main question proposed by this research is “What is the prevalence of recreational drug use in Texila American University?” It will also answer other questions such as “Why they are taking these substances?”, “If they started using these drugs after they attended the institution?” and “If the workload that they are experiencing have anything to contribute to their new habit.” This research will be answered by means of surveys distributed to students from PM1-MD4 due to easy accessibility and gathering of the data. The results will be displayed in statistical charts and graphs to answer these questions.

Keywords: Psychoactive drugs; euphoria; psychological distress.

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