NCJ Number
190576
Journal
SAMHSA News Volume: 9 Issue: 2 Dated: Spring 2001 Pages: 7-8
Editor(s)
Deborah Goodman
Date Published
2001
Length
2 pages
Annotation
This article examined emergency room visits resulting from use of "club drugs."
Abstract
The term "club drugs" comes from the association of these substances with dance clubs and "raves." Most commonly considered to be club drugs are LSD, GHB, Ketamine, methamphetamine, MDMA (Ecstasy), and Rohypnol. According to data from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration's Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN), emergency department (ED) visits involving club drugs increased significantly from 1994 to 1999, but were still relatively rare compared to ED visits for other drugs. The drugs most frequently reported to DAWN were alcohol in combination with some other drug. The article includes statistics and discussion of multi-drug episodes, trends (drug-related deaths), demographic characteristics, and geographical variation in patterns of drug availability and use. The majority of ED mentions of club drugs involved White, non-Hispanic patients (69 to 80 percent). A disproportionate share of Rohypnol ED mentions involve Hispanic patients (56 percent). Estimated rates of 1999 ED club drug mentions were given per 100,000 population for each of the 21 metropolitan areas oversampled in DAWN. Figures