Five-year trends in patterns of drug use among people who use stimulants in dance contexts in the United Kingdom

ABSTRACT Aims  To describe and evaluate trends in the use of stimulant drugs over a 5‐year period using an under‐studied data collection method. Design  Repeated‐measures cross‐sectional survey. Setting and participants  Annual magazine‐based survey targeting people who use stimulant drugs in dance...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Addiction (Abingdon, England) England), 2005-08, Vol.100 (8), p.1140-1149
Main Authors: McCambridge, Jim, Mitcheson, Luke, Winstock, Adam, Hunt, Neil
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Addictive behaviors
Adolescent
Adult
Adult and adolescent clinical studies
Amphetamines
Biological and medical sciences
Cocaine
Cross-Sectional Studies
Dance
Dance clubs
Dancing
Drug abuse
Drug addiction
Drug use
Ecstasy
Female
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Hallucinogens
Health
Humans
Male
Medical sciences
N-Methyl-3,4-methylenedioxyamphetamine
Neuropharmacology
Pharmacology. Drug treatments
Prevalence
Psychoanaleptics: cns stimulant, antidepressant agent, nootropic agent, mood stabilizer..., (alzheimer disease)
Psychoanalysis
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychopathology. Psychiatry
Psychopharmacology
Social problems
Stimulants
Stimuli
Street Drugs
Substance-Related Disorders - epidemiology
Surveys and Questionnaires
U.S.A
United Kingdom - epidemiology
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Summary:ABSTRACT Aims  To describe and evaluate trends in the use of stimulant drugs over a 5‐year period using an under‐studied data collection method. Design  Repeated‐measures cross‐sectional survey. Setting and participants  Annual magazine‐based survey targeting people who use stimulant drugs in dance contexts. Measurements  Life‐time use prevalence (ever used), age of first use, current use prevalence (any use within the last month) and extent of use within the last month (number of days used) for a range of stimulant drugs. Additional measures of quantity of ecstasy used were also collected. Findings  Trends in life‐time and current prevalence over time have been detected and comparisons made between different stimulant drugs. Evidence is obtained of broad stability in patterns of stimulant use in respect of age of first use and frequency of use among ongoing users. Despite an apparent reduction in the current prevalence of ecstasy use, the proportion of heavy users (usually >4 pills per session) has more than doubled between 1999 and 2003. Conclusions  This purposively sampled population study has yielded time trend data broadly consistent with other indicators, where they exist, and also has demonstrable potential to identify new drug trends. Further comparisons of purposive samples and randomly formed samples are needed.
ISSN:0965-2140
1360-0443
DOI:10.1111/j.1360-0443.2005.001127.x