Study shows high drug use during EDM live streams

The behaviour of music fans during the COVID-19 lock-in has certainly changed, especially with streaming and live streaming.

But some things don’t, especially with electronic dance music connoisseurs, it seems.

A new study published in The International Journal of Drug Policy shows that drug taking at EDM events has carried over to virtual raves.

40.9% who took part in the research revealed using illegal drugs and 70% took alcohol during online shows.

The choice of drug was predominantly marijuana at 30%. Ecstasy was at a low 8.5%, LSD at 7% and cocaine at 4.2%.

33.7% used illegal drugs during virtual happy hours held via Zoom-like platforms, with cannabis the most used (29.2%), cocaine (3.4%), and ketamine (3.4%). 

Older participants were more likely to toke during virtual raves.

The study was conducted by New York University of 128 local EDM fans.

On average, participants were aged 23.3 (ranging from 18 to 42), over 61% were female, and 55.5% had a college degree.

41.4% identified as white, 43% as Asian, 8.6% as other/mixed race, 5.5% as Hispanic, and 1.6% as black.

“We explored whether stay-at-home orders changed how people use drugs—and it appears that drug use during virtual gatherings is somewhat prevalent among the party-going population we studied,” Dr. Joseph Palamar, lead author of the study, explained.

However, the level of drug taking actually fell down the restrictions.

Respondents had also been quizzed about their drug use in the 12 months pre-stay at home,  with alcohol intake at 93.8% and cannabis at 93.8%, followed by ecstasy (59.4%,), cocaine (48.4%), LSD (37.5%), amphetamine (nonmedical use (29.5%), ketamine (28.1%,) and mushrooms (28.1%).

Dr. Palamar’s team is doing a follow-up study, also on EDM followers, on this decrease.

“This shouldn’t be unexpected as many of these drugs are most commonly used in social and party settings, but social distancing measures have certainly changed drug use behaviours,” he says.