Recorded presentation

Brian C. Kelly, MA, MPhil, Department of Sociomedical Sciences, Columbia University, 722 W 168th St, 9th Floor, New York, NY 10032, 212 305-6961, bck12@columbia.edu

Club drugs have emerged as significant recreational drugs among youth during the past decade. Initiation into drug use is the vehicle by which such drug epidemics spread given that drug cycles cannot diffuse without the initiation of new users. Research on the diffusion of other drug epidemics suggests that social networks play the greatest role in initiation into drug use. Through the use of data generated through a NIDA-funded ethnographic study of club drug use in the New York City metropolitan area, this paper describes the process of initiation into club drug use among “Bridge and Tunnel” youth – youth who “party” in Manhattan but reside in suburban neighborhoods surrounding the city. Through an analysis of the initiation narratives of Bridge and Tunnel youth, I provide a descriptive epidemiological profile of the social context of initiation into club drug use, explore how youth make sense of their initiation into club drug use and its current place in their lives, and describe the public health implications of these patterns of initiation. Overall, the paper provides the opportunity to explore potential education and intervention efforts at the important stage of initiation into club drug use.

Learning Objectives:

• to identify primary club drugs of abuse among suburban youth, to describe the process of initiation among these youth, to assess the risks associated with initiation into club drug use

Keywords: Drugs, Youth

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.

Recorded presentation