Although there have been efforts in Brazil to understand
drug use among college students, they have been focused
on the southeastern part of the country, particularly São
Paulo, which limits the scope of these efforts. Because the
onset of drug use disorders (especially drug abuse and drug
dependence) typically occurs during late adolescence or early
adulthood,7 college is a particularly vulnerable period and an
important target of continuing etiological and preventative
research. Thus, the lack of an integrated national study of
college students hinders the development of suitable intervention
strategies and public control policies devoted to this
target population in Brazil.