Project
Goals and Objectives
The project aims to:
 |
|
 |
Describe the role of
clubs, raves, after-hours parties and other social
events on the marketing and distribution of club
and designer drugs into urban youth neighborhoods. |
|
Examine the psychological,
social, cultural and other factors that contribute
to or inhibit the use of club and designer drugs. |
|
Examine the change over
time in the use of club and designer drugs amongst
the urban youth population (ages 16-30) in Hartford,
CT. |
|
Use the information gathered
during the study to develop an intervention program
to reduce the health and social risks associated
with club drug use. |
|
Project
Details
The project was launched in October
2001, continuing work done on the previous study,
"Supplement
to Pathways to High-Risk Drug Abuse Among Urban
Youth: Club Drugs". The study includes
three, simultaneous components that, combined, help
to understand the nature of the emerging club and
designer drug market amongst urban youth in Hartford.
The first component is studying (through direct
observation and informal interviews) the role of
clubs, house parties, raves, and other social events
as environments where club drugs are diffused, marketed
and used. The second component is a series of in-depth
interviews with sixty individuals who sell or use
club drugs, or who regularly attend or work at clubs,
raves or other social events where the club drugs
are used and distributed. The final component is
a survey of 500 individuals (one-third club drug
users and two-third non-users), ages 16-30. The
survey will be administered twice (eight months
apart) and will track the change in drug use over
time. Results from the project will be used to design
an intervention program to reduce the health and
social risks associated with the use of club and
designer drugs.
|
|
|
Project Contacts:
Jean
J. Schensul, Ph.D., Principal Investigator
Executive Director
Raul
Pino, M.D.,
Co-Principal Investigator
Project Director
Project Staff:
Jean J. Schensul, Ph.D.,
Principal Investigator
Raul Pino, M.D.,
Co-Principal Investigator
Gary Burkholder, Ph.D.,
Co-Investigator/ Quantitative Data Analyst
Margaret R. Weeks, Ph.D., Co-Investigator
William Disch, Ph.D., Quantitative Data Analyst
Sarah Diamond, Ph.D., Ethnographic Data Analyst
Orlando Velazco, B.A., Ethnographic Community Researcher
Alessandro Bermudez, B.A., Ethnographic Community Researcher
Regina Blake, H.S., Ethnographic Community Researcher
|
