alama

ALAMA-Nightlife: A longitudinal and momentary analysis of drug use in the European nightlife scene

Team: Prof Val Curran, Dr Tom Freeman, Dr Claire Mokrysz, Dr Meryem Grabski, Jon Waldron

Collaborating Institutions: Trimbos Institute (Netherlands), Hogeschool Gent (Belgium), Karolinska Institute (Sweden), Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (Italy)

Several factors such as the resurgence of the night-time economy, the emergence of novel psychoactive substances and the increase in potency of several drugs, such as ecstasy, have been linked to a rise in health related incidents amongst club and festival goers.

An understanding of drug use trajectories is vital to inform optimal policy and harm reduction strategies in the European nightlife scene. The majority of existing research, however, does not capture the dynamic aspects of nightlife drug use, either in the short-term, or longer-term changes over time. In order to investigate changes in club drug use over time, we are conducting a longitudinal survey in collaboration with researchers in the Netherlands, Belgium, Sweden and Italy (Electronic Music Scene Survey). Baseline data were collected over the summer of 2017, and participants will be followed up again 12 months later in 2018. We are also conducting a momentary, 'real time' assessment of drug use, mood and functioning before, during and after a night out to investigate short term predictors of harm.