Coke increase

A couple of weeks ago I was fortunate enough to attend Club Health Conference 2008. It was held in Santa Eulalia, Ibiza, Spain and, as always, was interesting and informative.

The Balearic Island of Ibiza is one of the world’s leading international nightlife destinations with the clubbing culture in Ibiza acknowledged as one of the most influential in the world. The clubs are internationally known and the island plays host to the largest club in the world, Privilege.

The conference dealt with many different topics but the two that really struck me were the increasing problems linked to cocaine use in the clubbing scene, and clubbing and terrorism.

Cocaine has a fairly innocent image and many people believe it to be fairly harmless. With street names like coke, blow and nose candy, it is easy to see where this impression has come from. Movies and television shows have also given the drug a fairly glamorous image.

Speaker after speaker at the conference raised concerns about the growing problems they are seeing linked to the misuse of cocaine in the clubbing scene. The drug is much cheaper and more pure in other parts of the world, particularly Europe, and use is on the increase.

The two major problems identified were violent behaviour and dependence -“ interestingly two issues often linked to methamphetamine in this country.

One of the most fascinating presentations at the conference was from a representative of the UK National Counter Terrorism Security Office. There have already been terrorist strikes made on nightclubs around the world (the Bali bombing and Tiger Tiger in London) and there is a belief that nightlife venues continue to be a perfect target for groups that want to cause maximum destruction.

You only had to go to one of the clubs in Ibiza and see the hundreds of young people partying in relatively small spaces to realise what sort of impact a strategically placed explosive device could have.

What is so wonderful about the Club Health conference is that it examines a wide range of issues around clubbing, not just drugs, which unfortunately is so often the sole focus, particularly when it comes to the media. Violence, hearing loss, sexual health, glass-related injuries and drink spiking were just some of the other topics covered.

Remember: if you do not want any negative consequences, do not use the drug and, no matter how many times you have used a substance, never be blase.