Presents information about ecstasy and other club drugs, including their history, how they are distributed, physical and psychological effects, and treatment options for addicts.

Emerging illicit drugs pose a significant clinical challenge. This handbook offers an engaging, concise guide to managing these challenges.

The substances regarded as club drugs were originally intended to act as painkillers and anesthetics. For the most part ecstasy, ketamine, GHB, and Rohypnol have been discarded by physicians due to their side effects and potential for abuse. Nevertheless, the drugs have swept through rave culture and are now becoming substances of abuse in other segments of society as well. GHB, ketamine, and Rohypnol have also been employed for a far more sinister purpose; as date rape drugs. Author Hal Marcovitz presents a thorough history of club drugs, discussing abuse, the dangers of club drugs, and attempts to eliminate club drugs.

Emerging illicit drugs pose a significant clinical challenge. This handbook offers an engaging, concise guide to managing these challenges.

LSD, MDMA, Ketamine, the number of drugs used to enhance the experience of clubs, music festivals, or social gatherings seems to grow year after year. Despite the immense danger of these drugs, they continue to be used recreationally by many young adults. This necessary edition joins the voices of organizations such as the Office on Women's Health, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, and Frontline in order to present readers with a comprehensive understanding of club drug use.

In this volume, contributors employ sociological and public health perspectives to offer insights into behaviours common at raves and nightclubs. The volume provides theoretical observations on illicit club drug use and supply, helping to challenge current orthodoxies on the role of drug use within young peoples' lives. Drawing material from the USA, UK and Hong Kong, the volume allows the demystification of stereotypical presentations surrounding young people who attend clubs and/or use club drugs. This work provides a badly needed and objective analysis of youthful drug use, and a foundation from which future sociological and public studies on young people, clubs and drugs - as well as young people themselves - will benefit.