Club drugs

Club drugs, also called rave drugs, or party drugs are a loosely defined category of recreational drugs which are associated with discothèques in the 1970s and nightclubs, dance clubs, electronic dance music parties, and raves in the 1980s to the 2010s. Unlike many other categories, such as opiates, which are established according to pharmaceutical or chemical properties, club drugs are a "category of convenience", in which drugs are included due to the locations they are consumed and/or where the user goes while under the influence of the drugs. Club drugs are generally used by teens and young adults. This group of drugs are also called "designer drugs", as most are synthesized in chemical lab (e.g., MDMA, ketamine, LSD) rather than being sourced from plants (as with marijuana, which comes from the cannabis plant).

Club drugs range from entactogens such as MDMA ("ecstasy") and inhalants (e.g., nitrous oxide and poppers) to stimulants (e.g., amphetamine and cocaine), depressants/sedatives (Quaaludes, GHB, Rohypnol) and psychedelic and hallucinogenic drugs (LSD and DMT). 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 amphetamines to stay up all night. In the 1970s disco scene, the club drugs of choice shifted to the stimulant cocaine and the depressant Quaaludes. Quaaludes were so common at disco clubs that the drug was nicknamed "disco biscuits". In the 1990s and 2000s, methamphetamines and MDMA are sold and used in many clubs. "Club drugs" vary by country and region; in some regions, even opiates such as heroin have been sold at clubs, though this practice is relatively uncommon. Norconon states that other synthetic drugs used in clubs, or which are sold as "Ecstasy" include piperazines (e.g., BZP and TFMPP); PMA/PMMA; mephedrone (generally used outside the US); bk-MDMA (methylone, sometimes marketed as “bath salts”); and MDPV.

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