Consumption Patterns of Nightlife Attendees in Munich: A Latent-Class Analysis

Abstract

Background:The affinity for substance use among patrons of nightclubs has been well established. With novel psychoactive substances (NPS) quickly emerging on the European drug market, trends, and patterns of use are potentially changing. Objectives: (1) The detection of subgroups of consumers in the electronic dance music scene of a major German metropolitan city, (2) describing the consumption patterns of these subgroups, (3) exploring the prevalence and type of NPS consumption in this population at nightlife events in Munich. Methods: A total of 1571 patrons answered questions regarding their own substance use and the emergence of NPS as well as their experience with these substances. A latent class analysis was employed to detect consumption patterns within the sample. Results: A four class model was determined reflecting different consumption patterns: the conservative class (34.9%) whose substance was limited to cannabis; the traditional class (36.6%) which especially consumed traditional club drugs; the psychedelic class (17.5%) which, in addition to traditional club drugs also consumed psychedelic drugs; and an unselective class (10.9%) which displayed the greatest likelihood of consumption of all assessed drugs. "Smoking mixtures" and methylone were the new substances mentioned most often, the number of substances mentioned differed between latent classes. Conclusion: Specific strategies are needed to reduce harm in those displaying the riskiest substance use. Although NPS use is still a fringe phenomenon its prevalence is greater in this subpopulation than in the general population, especially among users in the high-risk unselective class.

Identification and Assessment of Drug-User Groups Among Nightlife Attendees: Self-Reports, Breathalyzer-Tests and Oral Fluid Drug Tests

“…In terms of oral fluid tests for THC/cannabis, there were no significant differences in odds across 3 user groups. Finally, in terms of elevated BAC levels, "Multiple drugs" and "Incomplete info" groups were both more likely to test positive than the "Cannabis mainly" users (aOR All_drugs ther, we retained participants with incomplete self-report data and examined them as a group in its own right; this simple classification approach not only provided information frequently neglected in past studies [16,17], but we believe it illuminated some issues of particular concern in studies of this nature. This set of results demonstrates that brief self-reports, their possible shortcomings notwithstanding, were useful in providing fairly specific information on drug-use patterns above and beyond the simple "user vs. non-user" dichotomy.…”

‘Higher education’ – substance use among Berlin college students

“…Berlin is internationally known for its nightlife scene of dance-music and clubbing, a milieu which is generally associated with high rates of substance use (Kelly et al, 2006;Chakraborty et al, 2011;Ding et al, 2014;Palamar et al, 2015;Hannemann et al, 2017;Betzler et al, 2018). The conclusion that Berlin shows a higher prevalence of substance use compared to other parts of Germany and cities in Europe was recently supported by the results of wastewater analysis of an European multi-city study (EMCDDA, 2018).…”

Präventionsansätze zur Reduktion von Konsumrisiken in der Berliner Partyszene

“…Dagegen wurden die potenziellen negativen Folgen bei gelegentlichem Substanzkonsum einiger Partydrogen unterschätztinsbesondere auch die Risiken des Alkoholkonsums bei jedweder Form des Konsums [23,24]. Ersteres könnte damit zusammenhängen, dass unter Partygängern überwiegend gelegentlicher Substanzkonsum stattfindet und mögliche Schäden, wie kognitive Defizite, nicht registriert werden, sodass die Kosten-Nutzen-Abwägung pro (gelegentlichem) Konsum ausfällt [1,3]. Das Risikopotenzial auch von gelegentlichem Konsum sollte daher in Aufklärungsangeboten verstärkt adressiert werden.…”

“…B. 30-Tage-Prävalenz des Konsums von MDMA: 49,1% vs. 22,6 %; Amphetamin: 50,3 % vs. 23,6 %)[1,13]. Aufgrund des weit verbreiteten, mehrheitlich riskanten Konsums von Partydrogen (67,2 % CAGE-AID-positiv) mit steigender Tendenz sind die Berliner Partygänger als Risikogruppe für das Auftreten negativer Konsumfolgen zu charakterisieren.…”