Youth subcultures, the use of illicit drugs, and the relationship between the two were thoroughly influenced by the opening of Estonia to international influences in the 1990s. Survey data point at a recent growth in the use of illicit drugs among Estonian teenagers. Relying on participant observation and a number of in-depth individual and group interviews in 1997–2000, the article describes the “club” or “rave” culture in the Estonian capital. Consumption of illicit drugs belongs to that youth subculture as an integrated part. However, its norms also set clear limits for drug consumption patterns. The inner circle of the clubbers stresses the importance of internal control and the autonomy of the individual. While the use of drugs is accepted, addiction is condemned. This allows us to make a division between recreational and marginalized consumers, the latter being considered deviant not only by the dominant culture, but by the youth subculture itself.

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The article discusses problems related to illicit drugs in Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia against the background of the postsocialist transitions of the 1990s. Besides the drug problem, the political and market reforms of the 1990s were accompanied by a surfacing of a variety of social problems, some of which had already been present during the authoritarian socialist regimes. Gaining reliable and comparable statistics on drug-related harm has become very difficult due to changes in treatment system and health statistics. Nevertheless, all available evidence suggests that the use of illicit drugs has grown rapidly in all four countries, it now being close to the Western European level. As a result of international impulses rather than domestic interest, strictly restrictive drug policies have been adopted. Drug problems are aggravated by a marginalisation of a large part of the populations. Accordingly, their reduction may require a more general revision of the four countries’ economic and social policies.

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