Club drug
Dancers at all-night parties and dance events have used some of these drugs for their stimulating properties since the 1960s Mod subculture in U.K., whose members took amphetamine to stay up all night.
In the 1970s disco scene, the club drugs of choice shifted to the stimulant cocaine and the depressant Quaaludes.
[5] Narconon states that other synthetic drugs used in clubs, or which are sold as "Ecstasy", include harmaline; piperazines (e.g., BZP and TFMPP); PMA/PMMA; mephedrone (generally used outside the US) and MDPV.
[7] MDMA (ecstasy) is a popular club drug in the rave and electronic dance music scenes and in nightclubs.
The psychedelic quality of MDMA and its amphetamine-like energizing effect offers multiple reasons for its appeal to users in the rave setting.
Some users enjoy the feeling of mass communion from the inhibition-reducing effects of the drug, while others use it as "party fuel" for all-night dancing.
[10] Effects include "[g]reater enjoyment of dancing", "[d]istortions of perceptions, particularly light, music and touch"; and "[a]rtificial feelings of empathy and emotional warmth".
[citation needed] Methaqualone (Quaaludes) became increasingly popular as a recreational drug in the late 1960s and 1970s, known variously as "ludes" or "sopers" (also "soaps") in the U.S. and "mandrakes" and "mandies" in the UK, Australia and New Zealand.
A psychedelic is a psychoactive drug whose primary action is to alter cognition and perception, typically by agonising serotonin receptors,[20] causing thought and visual/auditory changes, and heightened state of consciousness.
[21] Major psychedelic drugs include Bufotenin, Racemorphan, LSD, DMT, and psilocybin mushrooms.
With a few exceptions, most psychedelic drugs fall into one of the three following families of chemical compounds; tryptamines, phenethylamines, and lysergamides.
"Poppers" are small bottles of volatile drugs which are inhaled by clubgoers for the "rush" or "high" that they can create.
As with disco clubgoers, rave participants and EDM enthusiasts used the drug because its "rush" or "high" was perceived to enhance the experience of dancing to pulsating music and lights.
Nitrous oxide is a dissociative inhalant that can cause depersonalization, derealization (feeling like the world is not real), dizziness, euphoria, and some sound distortion (flanging).
Ketamine produces a dissociative state, characterized by a sense of detachment from one's physical body and the external world which is known as depersonalization and derealization.
Effects include hallucinations, changes in the perception of distances, relative scale, color and durations/time, as well as a slowing of the visual system's ability to update what the user is seeing.
[citation needed] In the 2000s, synthetic phenethylamines such as 2C-I, 2C-B and DOB have been referred to as club drugs due to their stimulating and psychedelic nature (and their chemical relationship with MDMA).
[24] Some club drugs' popularity stems from their ability to induce euphoria, lowered inhibition and an intoxicated feeling.
Some club drugs, such as LSD, DMT, MDMA, 2C-B and ketamine enhance the experience of being in a nightclub with pulsating lights and flashing lasers and throbbing dance music, because they cause hallucinations or unusual perception effects.
In the worst instance, club drugs result in the death of the user from cardiac arrest or water intoxication due to the increase in heart rate and thirstiness induced.
"Ketamine often is taken in "trail mixes" of methamphetamine, phencyclidine, cocaine, sildenafil citrate (Viagra), morphine or heroin.
For example, MDMA ("ecstasy") is very hard to synthesize in illegal underground labs, and methamphetamine is much easier (it can be made from household chemicals and over-the-counter cold remedies containing pseudoephedrine).
In other cases, the substitution was made by a higher-level drug cartel or organization, and the dealer may in fact believe that the bogus product is MDMA or LSD.
If taken in large, unsafe doses, it is possible to cause mood swings, paranoia, insomnia, psychosis, high blood pressure, a fast heart rate, panic attacks, cognitive impairments and drastic changes in personality.
The symptoms of cocaine withdrawal (also known as comedown or crash) range from moderate to severe: dysphoria, depression, anxiety, psychological and physical weakness, pain, and compulsive cravings.
[35] At sufficiently high doses, Ketamine users may experience what is called the "K-hole", a state of extreme dissociation with visual and auditory hallucinations.
[36] The main treatment for individuals facing acute medical issues due to club drug consumption or overdoses is "cardiorespiratory maintenance".
A doctor recommends "cardiac monitoring, pulse oximetry, urinalysis, and performance of a comprehensive chemistry panel to check for electrolyte imbalance, renal toxicity, and possible underlying disorders" and preventing "seizures".
Much like discos, raves made use of flashing lights, loud techno/electronic dance music to enhance the user experience.
Since the early 2000s, medical professionals have acknowledged and addressed the problem of the increasing consumption of alcoholic drinks and club drugs (such as MDMA, cocaine, rohypnol, GHB, ketamine, PCP, LSD, and methamphetamine) associated with rave culture among adolescents and young adults in the Western world.
