Party drug use among young people is so prevalent, so infrequently intercepted by police and so rarely a cause of problems that society should rethink its attitude to drug policy, says the head researcher of a study of nightclub patrons.

The director of research at the Australian Drug Foundation, Cameron Duff, found that more than half the Melbourne nightspot patrons who were surveyed had tried ecstasy, cocaine, speed or ice. More than three-quarters knew regular users.

The survey, of 380 patrons, was completed last month and is a clear indication of the normalisation of recreational drugs.

"You're starting to see drug use spreading from an underground subculture very much into the mainstream," Dr Duff said.

"Yet we persist with the notion that most young people who use drugs are dysfunctional or delinquent in some way, that they're unemployed or not doing very well in school."

More than 90 per cent of the sample were working or studying, most of them full-time.
"They're just average, normal kids who happen to use party drugs, Dr Duff said.

"If you take away the drug use, you're talking about utterly typical young people. They're as normal as normal can be."

Ecstasy had been tried by 40 per cent of the sample, the same proportion as had tried cannabis. Almost as many had tried speed, 30 per cent had used cocaine and almost 20 per cent had used ketamine, a disassociative anaesthetic.

Surprisingly, more of the respondents were worried about their alcohol consumption than their use of party drugs.

Dr Duff's work suggests nightclub patrons' first worry when going out is what to "wear on the inside". Drugs are arranged well before they leave home, with two-thirds buying them from friends.

"It's almost the case that drug use itself has become the leisure activity," Dr Duff said.

"In the past, drug use was a way of enhancing another cultural experience, such as dancing or being at a party. Drug use seems to have become a leisure activity in its own right."

Figures provided to the Herald by the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research show how unlikely young users of ecstasy are to be caught by police. While criminal incidents of possession or use of marijuana totalled more than 11,000 a year in the state, police caught only 434 people with ecstasy last year.

The foundation's study also reinforced the scale of the party drug market, "of which all the corruption and murders in Melbourne is clearly the most abject manifestation", Dr Duff said.

He added that because the lives of those using drugs were holding together - and they were unlikely to face police sanction - two key triggers for drug users to seek treatment had been removed.

A few users encountered severe problems, he said, but most took party drugs two or three times a year without adverse consequences.

The challenge was how to respond, he said. "We provide drug education at school, and at the other extreme we've got treatment for people who've gone through their drug hell; but we don't do much once people have decided to use drugs.

"We need to think about how we can influence their behaviour in ways that lead them away from heavy to more moderate drug use."

By ANDREW STEVENSON

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