Visitors of the Dutch drug checking services: Profile and drug use experience.

Raoul Pieter Joost Koning; Annemieke Benschop; Camiel Wijffels; Judith Noijen

doi:10.1016/j.drugpo.2021.103293

Visitors of the Dutch drug checking services: Profile and drug use experience.

Raoul Pieter Joost Koning, Annemieke Benschop, Camiel Wijffels, Judith Noijen

International Journal of Drug Policy September 2021 DOI: 10.1016/j.drugpo.2021.103293 (opens in new tab)

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Study at a glance

AI-extracted from the abstract

Characteristics	Cross-sectional survey Peer reviewed
Sample size	1,530
Population	Clients of eight participating Dutch drug checking services (Drug Information and Monitoring System, DIMS) in the Netherlands in 2018
Topics	MDMA
Keywords	Drug checking Drug safety testing Drug testing Harm reduction
Key findings	Dutch drug checking clients were mostly highly educated men in their twenties with no migration background, and nearly all had prior drug experience: only 0.7% had never used any of the twenty drugs studied, and 93% reported ecstasy or MDMA use (average 6.3 years since first use). The authors argue drug checking can help public health services reach people who use drugs and is unlikely to encourage initiation, but may not be accessible to all demographic groups.

Abstract

Drug checking services (DCS) provide information about drug content and purity, alongside personalized feedback, to people who use drugs; however, the demographic and drug use characteristics of DCS clients are rarely reported. This paper describes these characteristics for clients of the Dutch DCS, the Drug Information and Monitoring System (DIMS). 1,530 participants completed a pen-and-paper questionnaire at one of eight participating DCS in the Netherlands in 2018. The participants were mostly highly educated males in their twenties with no migration background. Experience with drugs prior to coming to the DCS was common. Only 0.7% indicated they had never used any of the twenty drugs studied. 93% of participants reported use of ecstasy or MDMA with an average of 6.3 years since first use. These results indicate that drug checking can be a valuable tool for public health services as it facilitates access to more difficult-to-reach communities who use drugs. It is unlikely that DCS encourage drug initiation, since almost all people who visit the Dutch DCS already report experience with drugs. However, DCS should be aware that their services might not be easily accessible or attractive to all demographic groups.

Comparable studies

Other cross-sectional and survey studies on MDMA, most cited first.

Study	Year	Design	Participants
Recreational MDMA use in Sydney: a profile of ‘Ecstasy’ users and their experiences with the drug Recreational Ecstasy users recruited via snowball peer network	1992	Cross-sectional survey	n = 100
Reducedin vivobinding to the serotonin transporter in the cerebral cortex of MDMA (‘ecstasy’) users Male regular ecstasy users and well-matched controls	1999	Cross-sectional association study	n = 20
Patterns of simultaneous polysubstance use in drug using university students Drug-using university students	2006	Cross-sectional survey	n = 149
Patterns of recreational drug use at dance events in Edinburgh, Scotland Drug users at dance events in Edinburgh, Scotland, UK, aged 16-47, 80% between 18 and...	2001	Cross-sectional survey	n = 122
Acute, sub‐acute and long‐term subjective consequences of ‘ecstasy’ (MDMA) consumption in 430 regular users Regular MDMA users	2003	Cross-sectional study	n = 466

Citations in the library

Cited by 5

Cites 1

City Checking: Piloting the UK's first community-based drug safety testing ('drug checking') service in two city centres. British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology February 6, 2020