There were four main findings in this study: the sociodemographic profile; the experimentation age (use in life); the RRU scores of drugs; and the association of sociodemographic variables with the RRU levels of marijuana, cocaine, crack and hallucinogens.

Known to be greater among men, the beginning of drug use is also earlier, associated to constant use. Factors such as easy access, low cost and preference for drugs considered potent, are pointed out as contributing to this circumstance. This scenario results in difficulties for recovery, being a challenge for health professionals who will need to face the low adherence to the proposed treatments and the high rates of relapses⁽ 12 ^- 14 ⁾. Data on this fact are important to advocate health and de-institutionalization policies for these men.

Drug experimentation during adolescence, that is, from 12 to 18 years old⁽ 15 ⁾, is virtually normative. However, most individuals do not become dependent on drugs⁽ 12 ⁾. The vulnerabilities for the development of drug-related disorders are related to the age of experimentation, genetics, gender and psychiatric causes, such as depression, conduct disorders, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) - classified as intrinsic; extrinsic are access to drugs, the environment (family, school and community), companions, living with user parents, stress common to this development stage and physical or sexual abuse⁽ 12 ^- 14 ⁾.

Studies point that drug-related disorders are highly prevalent worldwide, with tobacco and alcohol abuse being the most prevalent⁽ 5 ⁾, causing high costs to public systems (health, safety and social security) related to treatment and the direct consequences of abuse, since drugs play an important role with certain types of cancer, respiratory, cardiovascular, gastrointestinal diseases and external causes of morbidity and mortality, such as accidents, violence and crime⁽ 16 ⁾.

The global burden of diseases caused by drug use is distinct influenced by sociodemographic and socioeconomic factors. It is more prevalent in countries with low and medium incomes, as is the case in Brazil, and, depending on this characteristic, we observed that the hospitalized men were young or young adults (of economically active age), single, with children, with less than 8 years of study and who did not work at the time of the research, pointing that drug use is a global social problem that varies substantially between countries, depending on the social development of each country⁽ 5 ^, 17 ⁾.

Drugs are responsible for 14.7% of the disability-adjusted life years lost, and this significance will continue to grow as the transition in the burden of communicable to non-communicable diseases occurs. Health systems around the world need to respond to this growing demand by implementing proven and economically feasible interventions, as well as supporting the research needed to develop better prevention and treatment options⁽ 18 ⁾.

The RRU risk of alcohol and tobacco were the most prevalent in the sample, and tobacco, which does not lead to psychiatric hospitalizations. These substances are risk factors for several non-communicable diseases, such as lung cancer and other types of cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, and psychiatric diseases. A population-based study in a city in southern Brazil showed that among the main risk factors for non-communicable diseases are smoking, present in 16.1% of the population, and alcoholism, present in 23.4%, classified as heavy drinking⁽ 18 ⁾.

Alcohol intoxication and drug use lead the user to increase the probability of doing or getting involved in something potentially harmful⁽ 19 ⁾, such as drunk driving, violent behaviors, and crimes⁽ 20 ⁾, or negligent behavior (sexual, for example)⁽ 21 ⁾. About activities, they can increase the probability of accidents⁽ 22 ⁾, leading to an increased risk of injuries and traumas⁽ 17 ⁾.

The multiple drug use found in the sample corroborates the findings of other studies⁽ 23 ^- 24 ⁾, in which a trend of multiple drug use as observed in hospitalized individuals for the treatment of alcoholism⁽ 23 ⁾. In those hospitalized for crack addiction, involvement with legal drugs was observed during adolescence⁽ 24 ⁾.

The assistance of drug users is affected by the media, resulting in speeches that simultaneously refuse police repression and the use of evident coercion apparatus, but are consistent with institutional devices that are not always evident of sanitary violence, such as the hospitalization of these users, accepted by liabilities recognition of the disarticulation of RAPS and the biomedical staff shared by professionals⁽ 25 ⁾.

The user is defined as non-volitive, dominated by the autonomous drug. Such practices corroborate the lack of assistance in Primary Care, legitimizing care gaps, filled by more humanized, but no less perverse, institutions that survive sustained through public funding, adjusting to the weaknesses in the implementation of psychiatric and health reform in Brazil⁽ 25 ⁾.

The fact that the data collection took place within one psychiatric institution can be considered as limitations of this study, which may distort the responses of the participants, unsettled about hospital discharge or even fearful of the theme regarding illegality and, ultimately, due to the stigma of the participants themselves. However, this approach has strengths and brings as a contribution to the advancement of knowledge the possibility of highlighting the sociodemographic, socioeconomic profiles and risk conditions that influence the drug RRU, which can be used to support planning and policy-making prevention programs, harm reduction programs, as well as contributing to training primary care to assist these individuals.