What exactly are the “club drugs”? An indigenous classification of drugs used by club attendees

“Club drugs” comprise a group of drugs believed to be prevalent in rave, club or party settings. NIDA currently defines “club drugs” as ecstasy (MDMA), GHB, ketamine, Rohypnol, methamphetamine, and LSD. However, the drugs that make up this classification are used inconsistently between studies, potentially contributing to a lack of utility in the field. Findings from semi-structured interviews with 20 Denver club attendees suggest that an emically-defined, indigenous model of drug categories may hold more relevance to understanding the nature and extent of drug use among this supposedly high-risk population. Pile-sorting techniques revealed that the majority of club attendees do not associate all of the NIDA-defined “club drugs” with the club scene. Study results showed that interview participants associate ecstasy, LSD and cocaine with the club scene, although LSD is perceived to be on the decline while cocaine is taking over as the most common “club drug.” GHB, ketamine, and nitrous oxide are used infrequently by the study population because they are considered “enhancement drugs” to the aforementioned category. Furthermore, methamphetamine is conceptualized as a “hard core drug” by Denver club attendees and holds little popularity in the local scene. Findings from this study indicate that continued use of the term “club drugs,” as it has been traditionally defined by researchers, breeds distrust among club attendees and may promote misguided research that overlooks more important drug issues that are developing as the club scene changes over time.