NCJ Number
210979
Journal
Substance Use and Misuse Volume: 40 Issue: 9-10 Dated: 2005 Pages: 1257-1278
Date Published
2005
Length
22 pages
Annotation
This paper examines the rise of the use of ecstasy and ketamine, known as “club drugs,” in a society long associated with heroin, Hong Kong.
Abstract
This paper addresses how global trends in dance and drug use manifest themselves at the local level in Hong Kong by examining trends in club drug use in Hong Kong, specifically the emergence of club drugs, motivations to use, and the types of users and problems they experience with club drugs. The paper then explores the reasons for the rise and popularity of club drugs in Hong Kong, a society long associated with heroin. The paper draws from three studies focusing on the Hong Kong drug market from the late 1990s to the present. The analysis draws from these three studies that tracked drug use trends from 1995 to 2002 in order to examine the overall changes in Hong Kong’s drug use scene. In addition, the paper draws from 16 focus groups in the first 2 studies and from 27 in-depth interviews conducted in the 2001 study. In several ways, users’ initiation, experiences, motivations, and problems with using club drugs are similar to those reported in other countries. However, Hong Kong’s drug scene is a local one. The use of ketamine has attained a level of popularity not reported elsewhere. Most local users compare their own use as something far more different, actually, incomparable to the Hong Kong heroin market. Ecstasy and ketamine are perceived by users as part of dancing and pleasure, demonstrating one’s association with a hip youth culture with relatively few consequences. Prior to ecstasy and ketamine, youth’s images of drugs were typically associated with the “hard core” male heroin addict. The paper attempts to show that the contemporary dance drug scene is both a local and global phenomenon. Tables, references