Club drugs are being used
by young adults at all-night dance parties such as "raves" or
"trances," dance clubs, and bars. MDMA (Ecstasy), GHB,
Rohypnol, ketamine, methamphetamine, and LSD are some of the
club or party drugs gaining popularity. NIDA-supported
research has shown that use of club drugs can cause serious
health problems and, in some cases, even death. Used in
combination with alcohol, these drugs can be even more
dangerous.
No club drug is benign. Chronic abuse
of MDMA, for example, appears to produce long-term damage to
serotonin-containing neurons in the brain. Given the important
role that the neurotransmitter serotonin plays in regulating
emotion, memory, sleep, pain, and higher order cognitive
processes, it is likely that MDMA use can cause a variety of
behavioral and cognitive consequences as well as impair
memory.
Because some club drugs are colorless,
tasteless, and odorless, they can be added unobtrusively to
beverages by individuals who want to intoxicate or sedate
others. In recent years, there has been an increase in reports
of club drugs used to commit sexual assaults.
