Club Drugs, 2002 DAWN Update

The DAWN Report:  Club Drugs, 2002 Update (PDF format)

Highlights:

• SAMHSA's DAWN found that the following "club drugs" (GHB, ketamine, LSD, and MDMA) collectively were involved in about 8,100 emergency department visits in 2002. Most of the patients in club drug related emergency department (ED) visits were under age 26: 56% of the GHB, 68% of the ketamine, 75% of the MDMA, and 76% of the LSD related emergency department visits.

• Although relatively rare, club drug related emergency department visits more than doubled from 1994 to 1999 and generally decreased from 2000 to 2002.

• GHB (gamma hydroxy butyrate) related ED visits peaked at 4,969 visits in 2000 and declined by one-third to 3,330 visits in 2002.
 

• Ketamine related ED visits remained at very low levels since 1998 with a peak of 679 in 2001 and then declined to 260 visits in 2002.
 
• LSD related ED visits were relatively stable between 1994 and 1999; but then declined rapidly from over 5,100 visits in 1999 to fewer than 900 visits in 2002.
 
• MDMA (ecstasy) related ED visits increased significantly from 253 visits in 1999 to 5,542 visits in 2001 and then declined to 4,026 in 2002.

Data on Other "Club Drugs"

Data on Other Specific Drugs

Other Topics

Other OAS Publications and Services

This Short Report, The DAWN Report:  Club Drugs, 2002 Update (PDF format), is based on the Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN), the primary source of national data on drug related emergency department visits.  DAWN is conducted by the Office of Applied Studies (OAS) in the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).