From "Candy Kids" to "Chemi-Kids": a typology of young adults who attend raves in the midwestern United States.

Although young people attending raves have been most visibly associated with the use of ecstasy and other "club drugs" in the United States, there is reason to believe that they are not a homogenous group in terms of their drug use practices. The purpose of this article is to begin developing a typology of young adult ecstasy users involved in the rave subculture--known as Ravers or Party Kids. The study is based on focus groups and qualitative interviews conducted between November 2001 and September 2003 with 36 current and former ecstasy users, aged 19-31, in central Ohio, as well as participant observation conducted in raves, clubs, and bars where "club drugs" are often used. Findings suggest the existence of five main subgroups in attendance at raves--Chemi-Kids, Candy Kids, non-affiliated Party Kids, Junglists, and Old School Ravers. These groups differ in regard to musical taste, philosophy, style of clothing worn, amount of time in the rave subculture, and most importantly, patterns of drug use. For example, while the use of ecstasy appears most common among Candy Kids, Junglists tend to be more involved with the use of ketamine and methamphetamine. The use of alcohol, cocaine, marijuana, and hallucinogens is also widespread in the rave subculture. The typology can aid in the development of communication strategies necessary for successful prevention activities among some categories of ecstasy users.

MDMA/Ecstasy use among young people in Ohio: perceived risk and barriers to intervention.

In the past several years, the use of MDMA (Ecstasy) has increased substantially in the United States and in many countries around the world. Although this increase has been associated with the dance club and rave scenes, Ecstasy use has expanded into new settings. At the same time, the diversity of people using the drug has also grown. Given the increasing, although unclear, evidence that MDMA has the potential to cause neurotoxicity and various psychological problems under certain conditions among humans, understanding how active users perceive the risks associated with Ecstasy use can help to inform prevention and intervention approaches. Based on audiotaped focus groups and individual interviews conducted with 30 Ecstasy users in Dayton and Columbus, Ohio, this article explores these and other issues. Results demonstrate that beyond the risk of obtaining something potentially deadly instead of MDMA, most users do not associate risks of neurotoxicity or psychological problems with Ecstasy use. Active users look to harm-reduction approaches for answers to using Ecstasy safely; prevention messages like, "just say no to drugs" are largely ignored. Because Ecstasy is commonly used among small groups of friends, peer leader or other social network intervention approaches may be promising.