Profiles of urine samples from participants at rave party in Taiwan: prevalence of ketamine and MDMA abuse.
Drug abuse patterns are different due to cultural, social and geographical differences. Methamphetamine (MA) is the most important drug of abuse in Taiwan followed by opiates. Recently, there has been an increase of ketamine and MDMA abuse in disco dancing clubs. Here, we report the patterns of drug abuse by the participants in a metropolitan city disco-dancing club and the general public in Taiwan. The positive rates of common drugs of abuse detected in samples collected from participants in a dancing club were as follows: MDMA, 75.7%; ketamine, 47.0%; MA, 41.6%; opiates, 0%. Marijuana and cocaine were detected at much lower rates (3.4 and 4.7%, respectively). Ketamine and one of the amphetamines were detected together in 42.9% of the samples. The positive rates in samples collected from police detainees suspected of drug abuse in the general public were as follows: MA, 76.0%; OPA, 37.0%; MDMA, 6.0%; ketamine, 2.0%.
Lua
Ahai Chang
AC
Department of Medical Technology, Tzu Chi University, 701 Section 3, Chung Yan Road, Hualien 970, Taiwan. ahai@mail.tcu.edu.tw
Lin
Huei Ru
HR
Tseng
Yong Te
YT
Hu
An Ren
AR
Yeh
Pei Chi
PC
D000662:Amphetamines / Q000097:blood; D008401:Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry; D006801:Humans; D007649:Ketamine / Q000652:urine*; D018817:N-Methyl-3,4-methylenedioxyamphetamine / Q000652:urine*; D015995:Prevalence; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000652:urine; D013624:Taiwan / Q000453:epidemiology; D014505:Urban Population
D000662:Amphetamines; D007649:Ketamine; D018817:N-Methyl-3,4-methylenedioxyamphetamine