Abstract : Substance abuse refers to the harmful or hazardous use of psychoactive substances, including alcohol and illicit drugs. It is a leading public health problem in the modern world as it causes a cluster of behavioural, cognitive and physiological phenomena in terms of human suffering, economic loss and also poses a great threat to the social fabric of the society. This study aims to assess the pattern and magnitude of substance abuse and its socio demographic correlates among male college students. The present facility based cross sectional study was carried out from March 2022 to May 2022 in a government junior college in urban health centre area of Shadan Institute of Medical Sciences. The prevalence of substance abuse was found to be 40% among the participants. The association between substance abuse versus age and social class was found to be statistically significant. The most common substance being abused was tobacco smoking (77.78%) followed by smokeless tobacco (42.60%), ganja (3.70%), alcohol (1.85%) and inhalants (1.85%). The major reason for initiating substance abuse was peer pressure (31.48%). The prevalence of substance abuse is considerably high among the college students which can lead to morbidity and mortality which in turn may affect their future. Hence it is necessary to identify the magnitude of this problem and make specific targeted interventions.