Editors' Introduction to this Special Issue on Club Drug Epidemiology

In 2003, we initiated an open solicitation for manuscripts addressing the epidemiology of club drugs. The intense interest in this topic among substance use researchers was reflected in the plethora of manuscripts we received in response to this solicitation. The importance with which this topic is viewed by the research community was reflected in the outstanding quality of these submissions. Their wide ranging content was also impressive. The final group of manuscripts included here reflects these strengths. This special issue contains manuscripts showing considerable variation with respect to the types of substances discussed, the location of the data collection effort, the nature of the target population, and the type of analytic method employed. As is generally characteristic of Substance Use and Misuse, the geographic diversity of authorship and target populations is striking. Articles address club drug use in seven countries (Australia, Canada, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, The Netherlands, and the United States) situated on four continents (Asia, North America, Australia, and Europe). Organizing this diverse content was an editorial challenge. After careful deliberation, we assigned articles to one of three main categories: Broad Overviews and Epidemiological Trends; Epidemiology in Population Subgroups; and Causes, Consequences, and Correlates. The opening paper by Britt and McCance-Katz (“A Brief Overview of the Clinical Pharmacology of Club Drugs”) provides a succinct and up-to-date review of pharmacological issues associated with some of the major club drugs. Particularly noteworthy in this paper is its concluding summary table; we believe that this table will serve as a useful resource for researchers and treatment providers alike. The remaining five papers in this first section provide overviews of club drug use trends and patterns from five distinct regional perspectives. Maxwell (“Party Drugs: Properties, Prevalence, Patterns, and Problems”) presents a broad– based global analysis of club drug epidemiology from the point of view of a U.S.–based research; Degenhardt, Copeland, and Dillon (“Recent Trends in the Use of ‘Club Drugs’: An Australian Review”) provide a uniquely Australian perspective; Joe Laidler (“The Rise of Club Drugs in a Heroin Society: The Case of Hong Kong”) provides an historical account of the emergence of club drugs and the party drug scene in Hong Kong. Soellner (“Club Drug Use in Germany”) provides data summarizing the club drug scene in Germany. Finally, the paper by Banta-Green, Goldbaum, Kingston, Golden, Harruff, and Logan (“Epidemiology of MDMA and Associated Club Drugs in the Seattle Area”) provides a thorough overview of the emerging scene in one major U.S. city. While these reviews are clearly distinct, they share a common trait that enhances their utility for drug researchers: They are thorough and broad-based reviews that rely on multiple data sources (in some papers this includes both primary and secondary sources) to derive conclusions. Seven papers examined club drug use trends and patterns within specific U.S. population subgroups. Within this subset, three manuscripts focused on subgroups of gay or bisexual men, including papers by Clatts, Goldsamt, and Yi (“Club Drug Use Among Young Men Who Have Sex with Men in NYC: A Preliminary Epidemiological Profile”); by Halkitis,