The American journal of drug and alcohol abuse
November 1, 2016
Joseph J Palamar, Patricia Acosta, Scott Sherman et al.
73 citations
Over a third (35.1%) of young adults aged 18–25 attending electronic dance music parties at nightclubs and festivals in New York City reported having used at least one novel psychoactive substance (NPS) in their lifetime. Synthetic cannabinoids were the most common (16.3%), followed by psychedelic phenethylamines (14.7%), synthetic cathinones (6.9%), other psychedelics (6.6%), tryptamines (5.1%), and dissociatives (4.3%). Use of Ecstasy/MDMA/Molly, LSD, and ketamine, identifying as bisexual, more frequent nightclub or festival attendance, and being surveyed outside a festival (versus a nightclub) were associated with higher risk of NPS use. The findings indicate that prevention and harm reduction efforts should target this high-risk population.
The International journal on drug policy
May 1, 2023
Joseph J Palamar, Austin Le, Charles M Cleland et al.
41 citations
Among people attending electronic dance music parties in New York City nightclubs and festivals, self-reported use of several drugs changed from 2017 to 2022. Past-year and past-month use of psilocybin mushrooms, ketamine, poppers, synthetic cathinones, and novel psychedelics increased, while past-year heroin use and past-month cocaine, novel stimulant, and nonmedical benzodiazepine use decreased. After the COVID-19 pandemic, the odds of using mushrooms, poppers, and 2C series drugs rose, whereas the odds of using cocaine, ecstasy, heroin, methamphetamine, novel stimulants, and prescription opioids nonmedically fell. These trends in a sentinel population can inform public health surveillance.
Journal of affective disorders
March 15, 2025
Kevin H Yang, Wayne Kepner, Charles M Cleland et al.
19 citations
Ketamine use among US adults increased significantly from 2015 to 2019 and again from 2021 to 2022. From 2015 to 2019, use rose among both adults with and without depression, but from 2021 to 2022, an increase occurred only among those without depression. Depression was linked to higher odds of ketamine use in 2015–2019 but not in later years. New correlates emerged in 2021–2022, including adults aged 26–34 and college graduates. Use of other drugs, especially ecstasy/MDMA and gamma-hydroxybutyrate, was consistently associated with higher odds of ketamine use. These shifts may reflect changes in the ketamine landscape or survey methodology.
Addiction (Abingdon, England)
April 20, 2025
Joseph J Palamar, Nina Abukahok, Patricia Acosta et al.
7 citations
About 2.7% of adults attending electronic dance music nightclubs in New York City reported using Tusi (also called pink cocaine or tusibí) in the past year. Tusi is a drug mixture often containing ketamine and other substances, and users may be unaware of its composition. Hispanic individuals had five times higher odds of use compared with white individuals. People who used ecstasy/MDMA, ketamine, or 2C series drugs in the past year were more likely to also use Tusi. Those reporting Tusi use were more likely to test positive for cocaine, ketamine, MDMA, methamphetamine, or synthetic cathinones via saliva testing, and some tested positive for cocaine, ketamine, or methamphetamine even without reporting past-year use of those drugs.