Page:Drug Use and Nightlife： More than Just Dance Music.pdf/2

Van Havere et al. Substance Abuse Treatment, Prevention, and Policy 2011, 6:18http://www.substanceabusepolicy.com/content/6/1/18 factors influence the frequency of illegal drug and alcohol use: the frequency of going to certain nightlife venues in the previous month (such as, pubs, clubs or goa parties); listening to rock music, dance music or southern and funky music; or sampling venues (such as, clubs, dance events or rock festivals).

Research on nightlife venues (e.g. festivals and pubs) other than clubs/raves is rare. Calafat et al. broadened the scope of their study to include other mainstream nightlife venues, demonstrating that the use of alcohol and illegal drugs is also linked to the frequency of visiting bars and pubs. Until recently, little attention has been paid to music festival attendees’ use of illegal substances (these music festivals are comparable to rock festivals examined in our study). Lim et al. interviewed young people attending a music festival in Australia, and found higher drug use prevalence among this population than among respondents to a National Drug Strategy Household Survey. In contrast, according to a UK survey, the majority of respondents reported that they did not use illegal drugs while attending music festivals. Alcohol consumption was, however, reported by the majority (88%). Another study, which focused on first time use of legal and illegal drugs at music festivals, demonstrated that visitors to rock festivals mainly reported using tobacco and cannabis for the first time .

Moore and Miles found an association between substance use and alternative music styles in the electronic music scene: respondents were more likely to consume MDMA at “hard house” and “trance nights”, and were more likely to drink alcohol if they attended “funky house nights”. According to key informants and police sources in Belgium, frequenters of goa parties are more likely to use drugs than people who frequent other sub scenes within the electronic dance music world. Goa trance (common at goa parties) is essentially “dance-trance” music; the goal being to assist dancers to experience a collective state of bodily transcendence, similar to that of ancient shamanic dancing rituals, through hypnotic, pulsing melodies and rhythms. It has its roots in the state of Goa in India . Although a shift in the dance party scene away from “underground” events has been observed, a revival of the dance “underground” has recently been reported, with the advent of goa parties held at secret venues. Moreover, this alternative music style within the electronic dance music scene seems to be associated with greater drug use.

Belgium offers an excellent opportunity to focus on several different nightlife scenes, since it is known for its variety of music styles and venues and its large music events (such as, I Love Techno, 10 daysoff and rock festivals like Rock Werchter, etc.). This study will elaborate and expand upon findings from previous studies, because few studies have examined substance use by followers of various music styles (dance, rock and mixed southern and funky music) and frequenters of various nightlife venues (dance events, clubs, rock festivals, pubs, goa parties, etc.). These nightlife variables will be studied in relation to substance use. Although MDMA is the most notorious club drug [9,10,21-23], cannabis appears to be the most popular illicit drug among party people [11,24]. Furthermore, the combination of alcohol and illegal drugs or the combination of different illegal drugs, is a particularly worrying characteristic of dance drug users for policymakers and health workers [13,25]. This article focuses on the (frequency of) use of the most popular drugs: alcohol, cocaine, MDMA, cannabis and amphetamines [24].

Method

Study sample

This survey was administered to those participating in Belgian nightlife using a self-report questionnaire. A sample of 811 respondents was surveyed at three dance clubs, two dance events and two rock festivals in Flanders (for a more detailed description, see [24]). These specific events and clubs were chosen because of their scale (in order to ensure a large enough sample size) and location (regional spread). Furthermore, pragmatic issues played a role, like: already existing contacts with key figures in some regions and club owners, promoters, to maximize participation in the study. The most popular clubs and events in Belgium were included in the study. Dance music was played in the clubs and at the dance events, but there were also DJs or bands playing dance music at the rock festivals. The clubs included in this study are small scale, open every weekend, and have fewer visitors per occasion than the dance events or rock festivals, which are large events mostly held in the open air during the summer welcoming over 10 000 visitors.

In total, 1406 individuals were invited to participate in this study, 811 individuals completed the questionnaire, 595 people refused to participate. Based on the researchers’ observations, many people refused to participate because they were on their way to a bar, or wanted to see a particular artist who was starting his/her act. Other people did not want to participate because they were accompanied by a group of friends. Surveys from 36 respondents (4.1%) were excluded from the data analyses as unreliable, because they reported the use of ‘NTSC’, an imaginary substance that was added to the questionnaire. Obviously intoxicated visitors were also barred from participating in this study. If these respondents insisted on participating, their filled in survey was marked for deletion and removed from the analyses (n = 3).