Drug Use and Meanings of Risk and Pleasure

The purpose of this paper is to explore meanings of risk and pleasure around drugs among adolescents and young adults, and provide data that represent the users’ perspectives. Using in-depth qualitative data from a sample of 300 young dance event attendees in the San Francisco Bay Area, we will analyze their perceptions of ecstasy and other illicit drugs, which are sometimes used at raves, clubs and other dance events. Using contemporary socio-cultural theories of risk, we will explore how young adults socially ‘construct’ notions of risk and risk-taking, how they engage in a process of negotiating the risks versus the pleasures of specific drugs, and the extent to which young people's notions of risk, danger and pleasure around drugs are influenced by the social setting and social groupings.