Adverse drug-related effects among electronic dance music party attendees

Virtual raves and happy hours during COVID-19: New drug use contexts for electronic dance music partygoers

“…Online recruitment and survey methods have many limitations; however, we believe we eliminated many pitfalls of online surveying through our methodology. Although, a particularly high number of females and participants identifying as Asian took the survey which make results less generalizable as EDM partygoers are typically white and male ( Palamar et al., 2019 ). In addition, unweighted prevalence of past-year drug use was higher in this study than in the parent study (e.g., for ecstasy/MDMA/Molly: 59.4% vs. 41.1% ( Palamar et al., 2019 ).…”

“…People who attend non-virtual EDM events at nightclubs or dance festivals are at high risk for party drugs such as ecstasy (MDMA, Molly), cocaine, LSD, and amphetamine ( Fernandez-Calderon, Cleland & Palamar, 2017 ; Krotulski, Mohr, Fogarty & Logan, 2018 ; Palamar, Acosta, Le, Cleland & Nelson, 2019 ). EDM parties are often considered high-risk environments not only because of high prevalence of drug use, but also because environmental factors such as heat, overcrowding, lack of drinking water, and/or lack of places to rest or cool off can increase the risk of experiencing adverse drug-related effects ( Bellis, Hughes & Lowey, 2002 ; Parrott, 2004 ).…”

Extensive Underreported Exposure to Ketamine Among Electronic Dance Music Party Attendees

“…We calculated sample weights based on survey response rates and self-reported frequency of party attendance to make results generalizable to this population. 2 We compared self-reported ketamine use to (1) detection of any level of ketamine and (2) above-threshold ketamine levels detected (≥ 0.5 ng/mg). 6 We then adjusted estimated prevalence defining ketamine exposure as reporting use or testing positive for use and examined correlates of testing positive for any ketamine exposure after not reporting use using generalized linear model with Poisson and log link.…”

“…Individuals who attend electronic dance music (EDM) parties report high levels of synthetic drug use compared with the general population, and are at a high risk for experiencing adverse effects. 1,2 Unknown exposure to various drugs which appear as adulterants in drugs such as ecstasy (3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine, MDMA) is common; 3,4 however, unknown exposure to ketamine-a controlled dissociative anesthetic-is understudied. Ketamine was approved for medical use to treat depression by the Food and Drug Administration in 2019, and benefits of medical use have been covered extensively by the media.…”

Absence of Ketamine Effects on Learning & Memory Following Exposure during Early Adolescence: A Preliminary Report

“…While past research suggests considerable variability in the patterns of use (e.g., [16] [17]), the prevalence may be largely underreported [18]. This may be especially true for teens and young adults which attend dance parties or raves, where the use of drugs such as LSD, Ecstasy, (MDMA), and KET, alone or in various combinations is common [19] [20]. Given the recent spike in media coverage regarding KET, there may well be an increase in deliberate consumption for recreational purposes as well as possible inadvertent exposure through use of adulterated drugs [18].…”