There is a great deal of quite determined use of these drugs. Drug use has risen in frequency from one or two in 10 people in the 1970s to one of five or six people in 10 during the 1990s. The phenomenon seems to cross gender and class barriers, although middle-class groups are slightly more likely to be users. Further, drug use is not associated with social failure or being a loser. There is a hint that 'excessive individualism' might be associated with drug-use, though.
Drug use is associated with clubbing, although the use of Ecstasy now extends beyond the club scene.
Finally, drug use is not as tightly linked with subcultural formation as once it was, although hard drug-users are more likely to belong to subcultures. Overall, then, there is a new type of recreational drug use, taking its place alongside other widespread leisure activities. Recreational drug use is so widespread that it cannot now be regulated using the legal and policing framework. All campaigns based on these assumptions have failed, the team argues. There are unhelpful consequences of such campaigns as well.