title: It's a rave new world: estimating the prevalence and perceived harm of ecstasy and other drug use among club rave attendees.
abstract: The use of 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA or "ecstasy") appears to be increasing worldwide, with "rave" attendees being one high-risk population. To date, however, only one study has collected ecstasy use information from rave attendees in the United States. To address this limitation, we collected self-report drug use information from 70 adult "club rave" attendees within the Baltimore-Washington corridor in April and May 2002. Data collection was scheduled between 12 A.M. and 5 A.M. Participation rates were high, with 85 percent of the club rave attendees completing the interview. Eighty-six percent of the respondents reported lifetime ecstasy use, 51 percent reported 30-day use, and 30 percent reported using ecstasy within the two days preceding the interview. While past-year ecstasy users were comparable to non-users with respect to a host of demographic and drug use variables, non-ecstasy users were significantly more likely than past-year users to perceive risks associated with the regular use of alcohol and ecstasy. Not surprisingly, non-ecstasy users were significantly more likely than past-year users to perceive harmful long-term physical and psychological effects associated with ecstasy ingestion. These findings suggest that rave attendees may be an important population for ecstasy-related prevention efforts.
authors.affiliation: Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation, Calverton, MD 20705-3102, USA.
authors.forename: George S
authors.initials: GS
authors.lastname: Yacoubian
authors.forename: Cynthia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Boyle
authors.forename: Christine A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Harding
authors.forename: Elizabeth A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Loftus
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001294:Attitude to Health; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D013287:Illicit Drugs / Q000009:adverse effects*; D008297:Male; D008396:Maryland; D018817:N-Methyl-3,4-methylenedioxyamphetamine / Q000009:adverse effects*; D015995:Prevalence; D018570:Risk Assessment / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012309:Risk-Taking; D012650:Self Disclosure
chemical_list: D013287:Illicit Drugs; D018817:N-Methyl-3,4-methylenedioxyamphetamine