Addiction News

Club Culture Includes Variety of Illicit Drugs

Cocaine and ecstasy have for years been at the top of the list of frequently taken drugs in the rave and club culture. But other drugs are sneaking up on that turf.

Mephedrone is a more recent addition to the mix. Once legal, mephedrone is a synthetic stimulant in the amphetamine class. Clubbers will call it Mcat or drone for short. Like other stimulants, drone will cause feelings of euphoria and teeth grinding. While the drug was first developed in 1929, it didn’t enter the club scene until 2003. By 2010, a majority of the rave and club culture in Europe was using it widely.

It was also in 2010 that the drug was made illegal in Europe. It’s a controlled substance in the U.S. and Australia. The designer drug, which is what many club drugs fall under, became a target of law enforcement in 2007 after French police tested what they thought was ecstasy, thus revealing that a new drug was in vogue in the clubs throughout the major cities.

A recent study in the U.K. reveals that users will not use drone to replace cocaine or MDMA or ecstasy. Rather, they’ll add it to the list of drugs they’ll look for when clubbing, partying or having a night on the town.

The study also revealed that of clubbers who have used ecstasy within the past month, about three-quarters of them have also dabbled with drone. The same percentage that used cocaine in the month prior to the study had also used drone. Around 80 percent of the MDMA users were using drone.

Generations of clubbers have cycled through the phase since its inception decades ago, but designer drugs have stayed largely intact.