Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #101044

Brian C. Kelly, MA, MPhil, Department of Sociomedical Sciences, Columbia University, 722 W 168th St, 9th Floor, New York, NY 10032, 212 662-4769, bck12@columbia.edu

Midway through the first decade of the 21st century, club drugs remain widely consumed substances in the United States, particularly among youth. This interdisciplinary panel brings together experts from a range of fields to discuss current trends and issues in the field of club drug use in the United States. The panel will elaborate on the current research in this field and to highlight potential health promotion efforts and future directions. Silvia Martins examines national trends in ecstasy consumption among recent initiates. More specifically, she highlights its associations with other drugs, psychiatric co-morbidity, and deviant behaviors. Steven Lankenau discusses patterns of ketamine injection across the United States. Drawing upon multi-site data from New York, New Orleans, and Los Angeles, he highlights the similarities and differences of pathways to risk, such as infectious disease transmission, of this emerging trend among injectors from distinct regions of the U.S. Russel Falck explains how ecstasy-related depressive episodes and depression remain a key concern for health professionals. In particular, he presents data to evaluate longitudinal risk of depression among ecstasy users. Brian Kelly describes the circulation of “intraventions” among club drug-using youth in the New York City metropolitan area. Specifically, he explores how youth deal with risks from a variety of club drugs by maintaining informal resources of health promotion through youth subcultures. Finally, Jeffrey Parsons synthesizes the current U.S. work on club drugs and highlights future directions for research, education, and prevention efforts.

Learning Objectives:

• Attendees of this session will be able to identify key club drugs of abuse in the United States, assess the risks currently posed to users, and evaluate potential means to reduce harm.

Keywords: Drug Use, Risk Behavior

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.