Ravers are using drugs at home during virtual events. Although music venues have closed and dance music lovers are now watching shows from home, it seems that party-life will not be going away anytime soon.
Virtual events have become the new norm for ravers, as the current pandemic continues to threaten the entertainment industry. Nightclubs remain closed with no certainty as to when they will reopen; festivals have been prohibited from taking place in order to prevent a mass spread of the virus. As a result, people are now finding new ways to have fun in the safety of their own homes. This includes stay-at-home drug use and online happy hours.
There is a new study, published in the International Journal of Drug Policy, that examines drug use at virtual raves and happy hours. Researchers found that a majority of users are EDM partygoers. 55.5 percent of them attend virtual events while 69.5 attend online happy hours. To obtain this information, online surveys were issued in April and May 2020 by researchers at NYU Grossman School of Medicine and the Center for Drug Use and HIV/HCV Research at NYU School of Global Public Health.
Researchers have found that 70 percent of participants drink alcohol during these events. Nearly 30 percent of partygoers use marijuana, which was found to be the preferred drug. Other substances were not as popular among participants. For raves, ecstasy use was found at only 8.5 percent, LSD at 7 percent, and cocaine at 4.2 percent. However, for happy hours, cocaine was found at 3.4 percent and ketamine at 3.4 percent.
Researchers Find That Drug Use is Decreasing Among Ravers
Although researchers find that ravers are still doing drugs at home, they have seen a significant decrease in drug use. This is because many substances are typically used within social party settings and social distancing has made that difficult.
Joseph Palamar, a contributor and researcher in the initial study, shares details on a new observation he is working on. He shares that he is now analyzing the decrease of drug use among ravers due to the COVID-19 stay-at-home orders.
“We’ve conducted another study, also on EDM partygoers, and we’re learning that the use of drugs, such as cocaine, ecstasy, and LSD, has been dropping since the COVID-19 lockdown. This shouldn’t be unexpected as many of these drugs are most commonly used in social and party settings, but social distancing measures have certainly changed drug use behaviors.”
You can find this study in the International Journal of Drug Policy.