The Netherlands Drug Situation 2010 - Trimbos-instituut

the ecstasy (see also § 10.3), some users started taking more pills at once to obtainthe desired result. Other users looked for a substitute or stopped using.Although it is still used less often than ecstasy and is much more expensive, cocainecan be obtained easily throughout the country. It is used by all kind of groups. InAmsterdam, the new generation (20-24 years) seems less receptive to cocaine (Nabbenet al., 2010).In general, amphetamine is easier to obtain in rural areas than in the larger cities.Youth in rural areas tend to use also on working days in addition to weekends andparties and they seem to underestimate the health risks. In the nightlife scene, use ofamphetamine is most common in alternative clubs. In other groups amphetamineshave a negative image. Nonetheless, it has been observed in Amsterdam that in 2009amphetamines seemed to be on the rise, possibly as a substitute to the adulteratedecstasy (Nabben et al., 2010). Methamphetamine use remains restricted to smallniches of the gay scene and among psychonauts.The popularity of GHB has increased among adolescents and young adults, but themarket for GHB has remained much smaller than the market for ecstasy and cocaine.GHB is easy to produce and to obtain, and it has the image of being "dangerously innocent".Some users remain strikingly easy going about GHB, notwithstanding thecomatose effects it sometimes has.Ketamine seems to gain some popularity in the western region of the trend settingalternative club scene and in the southern part of the country. Ketamine is mostlyused at home during the weekend, but there are also signs of an increasing use atdance parties.Energy drinks (e.fg. RedBulL) remain highly popular and are used not only in thenightlife scene but also during work, study or driving,Trends in substance use in the Amsterdam nightlife scene: 1994 - 2008Repeatedly, previous National Reports from the Netherlands have reviewed the resultsfrom the Amsterdam Antenna which monitors the use of substances in the nightlifescene. The Antenna combines quantitative data from surveys with qualitative data fromkey informants. Recently, Nabben has published a PhD thesis in which reviews the trendsthat have been found by the Amsterdam Antenna from 1994 up to including 2008 (Nabben2010). It is a study into cultural criminology, which "encompasses a broad spectrumof research disciplines that probe into issues such as the popularisation of crime, thewidespread culture of carnivalesque sensation- and pleasure-seeking behaviour, thestrong identification of young people with a norm-violating or even deviant consumptionof visual culture, and transgressive nightlife subcultures". In addition to the social learningprocess of drug use, as described by Howard Becker, Nabben makes a distinctionbetween "sensible 'euphoric artists' and the destructive 'euphoric bunglers'". The firstgroup manages to enjoy drugs in a controlled way, the second group ends up in problemdrug use.Trends in drug use can take the form of a vertical expansion (more groups start usingthe drug), a horizontal expansion (more use of the drug within a group), respectively avertical contraction (less groups continue the use of the drug), and a horizontal contraction(less use of the drug within a group). Different kind of trendsetters during differentcycles in the nightlife all in all resulted in the following trends for different kind of drugs: Ecstasy: during the 1990s a vertical and a horizontal expansion took place, followedby a vertical and a horizontal contraction after the turn of the century.41