Drugs, Clubs and Young People

In this volume, contributors employ sociological and public health perspectives to offer insights into behaviours common at raves and nightclubs. The volume provides theoretical observations on illicit club drug use and supply, helping to challenge current orthodoxies on the role of drug use within young peoples' lives. Drawing material from the USA, UK and Hong Kong, the volume allows the demystification of stereotypical presentations surrounding young people who attend clubs and/or use club drugs. This work provides a badly needed and objective analysis of youthful drug use, and a foundation from which future sociological and public studies on young people, clubs and drugs - as well as young people themselves - will benefit.

’This highly readable book conveys the essence of club culture and the role that drugs like Ecstasy, GHB, Ketamine, and others have in participant's lives. The essays richly document how drug users assess the risks and harms versus their enjoyment of such drugs in the dancing context. The similarities in drug use and clubbing in locales as diverse as New York City, Miami, Los Angeles, London, Hong Kong, and other international locations constitutes an additional strength of this book.’ Bruce D. Johnson, Institute for Special Populations Research, USA ’This book offers a fascinating view into the lives of raving, clubbing, and club drug using youth from around the world. By combining scientific theories and methodological approaches from both sociology and public health, experts in the field bring a more integrative approach to understanding the rave and club scene, as well as club drug use, a behaviour that is likely fuelling the latest wave of HIV infection among youth. An edited volume of this nature is an important and welcomed contribution to the literature.’ Michele D. Kipke, University of Southern California, USA ’...I recommend this book to people wanting up-to-date social-scientific evidence about the use of ecstasy and similar drugs at dance parties and nightclubs - including social science researchers and students and any professionals whose work connects them to this leisure scene’. Druglink ’There is much to admire in this book...a useful contribution to the literature on drugs, clubs and young people.’ Health Sociology Review ’Each essay presents an insight into contemporary drug usage and popular youthful behaviours across the world.’ The Howard Journal

Bill Sanders, PhD, is an Assistant Professor of Research in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Southern California, USA. He works within the Community Health Outcomes and Intervention Research Program at the Saban Research Institute and the Division of Research on Children, Youth and Families at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles. He is currently a researcher and analyst on a nationwide project examining health risks related to the injection of ketamine amongst young people and is the Principal Investigator of a study examining negative health outcomes, including HIV risk, related to sexual behavior, drug use and violence amongst gang-identified youth in Los Angeles.