The popularity of “electronic dance music” (EDM) and dance festivals has increased significantly in recent years in the United States and around the world (Watson, 2014). Although data from national samples suggest that adolescent drug use has decreased in the general U.S. population (Johnston et al., 2015), rave, nightclub, and festival enthusiasts are high-risk populations that may not be adequately represented in national studies. Nightclub frequenters assessed using targeted samples tend to report high rates of drug use (Kelly et al., 2006; Kipke et al., 2007; Mixmag, 2013; Rogers, 2012; Van Havere et al., 2011) and rates appear to be higher than in the general population (Lim et al., 2008). As drug-related deaths become more common among dance festival participants (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2010; Ridpath et al., 2014), data from nationally representative samples are needed to determine the extent to which nightlife (or “rave”) is actually more likely to use different drugs. The term “rave” has been used rather vaguely in the scientific literature (Anderson and Kavanaugh, 2007); However, many studies have examined drug use among GED enthusiasts or “clubbers” from different EDM scenes and locations (e.g., raves, nightclubs, circuit parties). To our knowledge, only one study compared the use rates of dance festival-goers to national rates, and they found that participants reported higher rates of use (Lim et al., 2008). Nationally representative studies of the U.S. population in 2013, for example, showed ecstasy use of 1.5-5.3% in the past year (Johnston et al., 2014a; Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA, 2014) and a study of a nationally representative sample in the UK found that 2.3% reported using ecstasy in the past year (UK Focal Point on Drugs, 2014). In comparison, the Global Drug Survey, a large-scale Internet survey conducted in 2012, found that American “clubbers” reported high rates of use, with 61% reporting MDMA use for 12 months, 44% LSD, 41% magic mushrooms, 34% cocaine, 27% amphetamine and 15% ketamine (Mixmag, 2013). In particular, “club drugs” tend to be widely used among nightlife participants (McCambridge et al., 2005; Rogers, 2012).
The term “club drugs” generally refers to a specific subset of drugs, including ecstasy (MDMA, “Molly”), gamma-hydroxybutyrate (GHB) and ketamine (“Special K”); and sometimes Rohypnol (“roofies”), LSD, cocaine powder and methamphetamine have been classified as club drugs (Gable, 2004; Halkitis et al., 2007; Kelly et al., 2006; Maxwell, 2005). Studies in U.S. cities focusing on nightclub frequenters found that a relatively large proportion of participants had used drugs in clubs (Kelly et al., 2006; Kipke et al., 2007; Mattison et al., 2001; Pantalone et al., 2010). Older studies of participants in Uk clubs recruited via the Internet found that 88-97% of respondents reported having used ecstasy all their lives and having used many other illicit drugs (McCambridge et al., 2005; Winstock et al., 2001). Although few studies have focused specifically on “raves,” the literature suggests that drug use tends to be prevalent among nightlife participants. Finally, under control for all other covariates, we used logistic regression to study how frequency of rave participation (with “never” as a comparison) was associated with the use of each drug. Specifically, we looked at how once or twice participation and attendance were related to the use of each drug, compared to no participation in raves. Therefore, we did not model alcohol use because the use was too widespread (used by 68% of the sample) and we could not model heroin use because the use was too infrequent (used by only 0.4% of the sample). Again, we applied a strict Bonferroni correction (α=0.05/16=0.003) for several non-independent results. All analyses were based on the sample design for survey data (Heeringa et al., 2010) and used sample weights of MTF. SAS 9.3 software (SAS Institute, 2011) was used for all analyses. In 2018, a company called Diet Alcohol Corporation of the Americas (DACOA) began openly marketing a MEAI-based beverage called “Pace” for sale in the U.S.
and Canada.