Profiles of urine samples from participants at rave party in Taiwan: prevalence of ketamine and MDMA abuse

Concurrent use of methamphetamine, MDMA, LSD, ketamine, GHB, and flunitrazepam among American youths

“…As our findings indicate, there is a very low prevalence of ketamine use among young people in the general population. However, ketamine use appears to be very common (47% to 66%) among people attending parties or clubs Lua et al, 2003;Mansergh et al, 2001;Mattison et al, 2001). Dillon et al (2003) found that ketamine users were frequently experienced drug users who use a variety of drugs and were primarily employed and well-educated.…”

“…In an attempt to combat the increasing use of club drugs in the community, NIDA has established a Web site to provide scientific information about them-http://www.clubdrugs.org (Volkow, 2004). Similarly, many investigators in other countries have suggested that the use of such drugs has increased (Gross et al, 2002;Joe Laidler, 2005;Lua et al, 2003;Schuster et al, 1998), and that party attendees typically use multiple drugs (Barrett et al, 2005;Boys et al, 1997). To better gauge the extent of this drug use, we examine the prevalence rates, patterns, and correlates of club drug use among youths aged 16 to 23 in the United States.…”

“…Current knowledge of the use of these drugs is based primarily on studies of gay or bisexual people as well as party or club participants, which tend to report a very high prevalence of GHB use (25% to 29%) and ketamine use (47% to 66%) and a significant association of using these drugs with risky sexual behaviors Lua et al, 2003;Mansergh et al, 2001;Mattison et al, 2001;Romanelli et al, 2003;Rusch et al, 2004).…”

La ketamina come antidepressivo ad azione rapida: controversia e implicazioni [translation of “Ketamine as a rapid antidepressant: the debate and implications” by Dr. Giacomo Galli and Dr. Serena Saraceni]

“…Negli USA, la ketamina è invece classificata come sostanza illecita di livello III (Schatzberg . Ad Hong Kong, la ketamina è registrata come droga di livello I ed è la sostanza di abuso più comune, dal momento che viene consumata da più dell'80% di utilizzatori di sostanze (Li 2011a); nelle zone rurali della Cina centrale (Deng 2012) e a Taiwan è invece al secondo posto tra le sostanze di abuso più utilizzate (Lua 2003). Inoltre, nell'isola asiatica, l'età di primo contatto nei giovani è attestata a 15 anni (Lee 2012); per questi motivi sono in corso tentativi di indurre una riclassificazione, al fine di limitarne l'utilizzo (Li 2011a) La falsa percezione di una ridotta pericolosità da parte di chi abusa di ketamina ha ampiamente contribuito a diffonderne il consumo.…”

Dinosaur Girls, Candy Girls, and Trinity: Voices of Taiwanese Club Drug Users

“…In 2002, a Taiwanese study reported a 1.15% positive detection of MDMA and 0.37% positive detection of marijuana metabolites among 2,994 urine samples from drug-related arrests in western Taiwan (Liu et al, 2002). Another study detected rates of MDMA and Ketamine as high as 76% and 47% among rave party participants (Lua et al, 2003). Recently, the NBCD analyzed 931 urine specimens collected from 12 cities and counties using REMEDi HS system (BIO RAD Co.) and found positive detection rates to be between 4 and 10% for MDMA and Ketamine, suggesting significant drug use in Taiwan, reaching usage rates of about one quarter that of opiates and amphetamines.…”