A contextual profile of club drug use among adults in Chicago

Abstract

Aims: To better understand the prevalence, correlates, risk factors and context of club drug use among US adults in the City of Chicago.

Design: An Audio Computer-Assisted Self Interview was administered to a household probability sample of adults, aged 18-40 years, from June 2001 to January 2002.

Setting: Subjects were drawn from randomly selected households using a multi-stage area probability design.

Participants: The data represent 627 randomly selected adult participants.

Measurement: Weighted prevalence estimates with design-effect adjusted confidence intervals of life-time, past 12 month and past 30 day use of any club drug and of specific club drugs; prevalence of rave attendance, other drug use, motivation for use among club drug users; chi2 tests of significance, logistic regression and adjusted odds ratios.

Findings: Overall club drug prevalence rates were nearly twice those obtained for MDMA alone. Club drug users were more likely to use multiple illicit substances and to report having been in treatment for substance use. A majority of life-time club drug users never attended a rave although rave attendees were more likely to report frequent use of MDMA. Use was associated with gender, race and sexual orientation.

Conclusions: Prevention research should be informed by further population-based research on club drug use. Research should not focus exclusively on rave attendees, as they are only a subset of club drug users. Research is needed on neurological and behavioral sequelae across different types of club drugs, gender differences in the impact of sexual orientation on club drug risk and on the effects of personality characteristics such as sensation seeking on club drug use behavior.