Youth condition and drugs in universities: The case of a regional university

This article develops a reflection regarding the youth condition, focusing on the relation between the differentiated youth condition of university students and the use of psychoactive substances. The authors argue that while the youth condition is differentiated internally, in regards to the practices of the consumption of psychoactive substances, these differences are homogenized. This argument is based on the case of a regional university and is developed through two separate sections in the article. The first covers the beginning, increase and diversification in the use of psychoactive substances. The second section sees the authors address the relation between psychoactive substance consumption and the youth condition through the construction of four categories. To achieve this a survey from the Cicad/OAS was used to obtain more knowledge about the social circumstances of these users that goes beyond their experience as university students. The authors also denormalize the concept of age through transforming it into a social characteristic and not a biological condition of the subject.