Characteristics and social representation of ecstasy in Europe - Irefrea

As we have already seen in other tables where there were many missings it isdifficult to know which is the right interpretation, because we do not know it is aquestion of sampling or especial consumption habits of the studied area or both. Thishigh association between ecstasy and heroin needs then further exploration.The Utrecht sample behaviour is interesting. Though there is also a certainpolyconsume, it is lower than in other towns. Actually, there are no heroine consumers,they are among those who consume less tobacco (79,9%), alcohol (70,3%), cannabis(66,9%) and cocaine (28,9%) simultaneously with XTC. May be the biggest differencewith other cities is the use of LSD (9,4%). Nevertheless, as we can see, the percentageof simultaneous use are still quite high and we must consider the Dutch sample also aspoly-consumers. We have already explained possible sampling reasons to explain a lessheavier polyconsume influenced by the fact that young people in Holland are moredivided into groups that share same cultures, music, drugs,…HAVE YOU EVER THOUGHT ABOUT GIVING UP ECSTASY (In %)COIMBRA MODENA NICE PALMA UTRECHTYes 56,3 64,6 76,9 55,8 42,4Nearly in every country, more than half of the users have considered giving upecstasy in some moment of their life, reaching up to 76,9% in Nice. Dutch users seemto have less problems with its use, which is due probably to the fact that they are thesample with less tendency to misuse. Probably it has also some influence in the Dutchcase the cultural connotations linked with the important preventive campaigns that havetaken place in this country.We can not forget that the samples from Modena and Nice have a high percentage of ex-consumers, which may be explains why in these cities we find a high percentage of peoplewho wants to give up ecstasy. A second possible reason is the high percentage of misuse.From a preventive point of view, we consider significant that such a high percentageof individuals had thought about the possibility of giving up ecstasy. This will mean thatan exclusive harm reduction strategy will not take into account this need expressed bythe ecstasy users, and therefore we have to think also in some programs that could helpthem in giving up this drug.WHERE ECSTASY IS OFTENER BOUGHTCOIMBRA MODENA NICE PALMA UTRECHTAt discos or bars 13,3 20,1 18,1 24,11 12,6In the street 05,6 11,8 10,5 11,90 03,7With friends 35,3 46,5 36,8 34,30 58,2At concerts 11,5 01,4 03,6 08,20 020,At “rave” parties 27,4 10,4 22,7 08,40 16,7At football stadiums 02,3 00,7 00,7 01,80 00,3Others 04,6 090, 07,6 11,30 06,572