Prevalence and Correlates of Illicit Drug Use among Norwegian Nightlife Patrons

Figures & data

Table 1. Prevalence of demographic and substance use characteristics among nightclub patrons who tested positive for none, THC, stimulants, or multiple illicit drugs in oral fluid, and multinomial regression analysis with no detected illicit drug as reference presented as adjusted relative risk ratios (aRRR).

	Illicit drugs detected				Multinomial analysis versus No illicit drug detected
	None (n = 1702)	Only THC (n = 112)	Only one stimulant^a (n = 106)	Two or more substances^b (n = 66)	Only THC	Only one stimulant^a	Two or more
	% (n)	% (n)	% (n)	% (n)	aRRR (95% CI)	aRRR (95% CI)	aRRR (95% CI)
Demographics
Males	58.5 (995)	85.7 (96)***	76.4 (81)***	89.4 (59)***	3.7 (2.1-6.5)***	2.2 (1.4-3.5)***	5.7 (2.5-12.9)***
Age <26 years	61.4 (1045)	68.8 (77)	55.7 (59)	47.0 (31)**	1.2 (0.8-1.8)	0.7 (0.5-1.0)	0.5 (0.3-0.8)**
Location: Oslo	48.7 (829)	57.1 (64)	66.0 (70)**	65.2 (43)**	1.7 (1.1-2.6)**	2.2 (1.4-3.4)***	2.7 (1.5-4.9)**
Unemployed	2.1 (36)	8.0 (9)***	3.8 (4)	10.6 (7)***	3.7 (1.6-8.5)***	1.9 (0.6-5.5)	5.7 (2.2-15.2)***
Higher education	58.6 (998)	42.0 (47)**	57.5 (61)	43.9 (29)**	0.6 (0.4-0.9)*	0.8 (0.5-1.2)	0.5 (0.3-0.9)*
Foreign-born parent(s)	22.0 (375)	29.5 (33)	28.3 (30)	27.3 (18)	1.4 (0.9-2.3)	1.3 (0.8-2.1)	1.3 (0.7-2.3)
Substance use characteristics
Being drunk before 16 years	43.7 (743)	51.8 (58)	54.7 (58)*	74.2 (49)***	0.7 (0.5-1.2)	1.2 (0.8-1.8)	2.0 (1.1-3.7)*
Being drunk weekly last 30 days	41.2 (702)	48.2 (54)	51.9 (55)*	45.5 (30)	0.8 (0.6-1.3)	1.1 (0.8-1.7)	0.7 (0.4-1.2)
Illicit drug use before 16 years^b ^,c	8.1 (138)	28.6 (32)***	15.1 (16)*	40.9 (27)***	3.6 (2.1-5.9)***	1.5 (0.9-2.1)	4.3 (2.4-7.9)***
Use of nicotine products	58.8 (1001)	96.4 (108)***	74.5 (79)**	89.4 (59)***	14.1 (5.1-39.0)***	1.7 (1.1-2.7)*	3.5 (1.5-8.0)**

a Includes cocaine (n = 92), and MDMA (n = 9), and amphetamine/methamphetamine (n = 5).

b Includes amphetamine, methamphetamine, cocaine, MDMA, THC/cannabis, ketamine, heroin, LSD, DMT, and NPS.

c Includes also GHB.

* p < 0.05.

** p < 0.01.

*** p < 0.001. Left-hand side: Pearson’s Chi-Square test, df = 1. Right-hand side: Wald test, df = 1.

Table 2. Sample demographic and substance use characteristics (n = 1988).

	Proportion, % (n)
City
Oslo	50.7 (1007)
Other	49.3 (981)
Sex
Male	62.0 (1232)
Female	37.7 (750)
Not recorded	0.3 (6)
Age (years)
16-20	15.2 (303)
21-25	45.8 (911)
26-35	27.2 (540)
36+	10.8 (214)
Not recorded	1.0 (20)
Higher education^a	56.5 (1123)
Employment status
Employed, full time	53.1 (1056)
Employed, part time	11.8 (234)
Unemployed	2.8 (56)
Student	29.3 (582)
Homemaker	0.9 (17)
Sick leave	1.3 (26)
Other/not recorded	0.9 (17)
Foreign-born participant	13.4 (267)
Europe, North America, or Australia	8.0 (160)
Africa, Asia, or South America	5.4 (107)
Foreign-born parent(s)	22.9 (455)
Europe, North America, or Australia; both	6.6 (132)
Africa, Asia, or South America; both	8.0 (160)
Mixed origin	8.2 (163)
Self reported alcohol consumption
Being drunk weekly in the past four weeks	42.3 (841)
First time drunk before 16 years	45.7 (908)
Self-reported illegal drug use, past 12 months^b	31.6 (629)
Amphetamines	4.2 (84)
Cannabis	29.4 (585)
Cocaine	10.7 (213)
MDMA	9.8 (194)
NPS	0.9 (18)
Self-reported illegal drug use in the past four weeks^b	20.9 (415)
Amphetamines	2.2 (43)
Cannabis	18.6 (370)
Cocaine	5.8 (115)
MDMA	4.8 (194)
NPS	0.7 (13)
Self-reported illegal drug use in the past 48 hours	10.8 (215)
Amphetamines	0.9 (18)
Cannabis	9.4 (186)
Cocaine	2.6 (51)
MDMA	1.7 (34)
NPS	0.2 (4)
Self-reported use of illicit drugs before 16 years	10.7 (213)
Use of any nicotine products in the past four weeks	62.8 (1248)
Smoking daily	12.3 (244)
Smoking occasionally	37.6 (748)
Snus daily	30.8 (612)
Snus occasionally	16.6 (331)
E-cigarettes daily	1.1 (22)
E-cigarettes occasionally	5.9 (117)

Table 3. Analytical test results for alcohol and drugs (n = 1988).

	Proportion, % (n)
Blood alcohol concentration (%)
None or <0.010	9.9 (196)
0.010-0.049	13.4 (266)
0.050-0.099	29.2 (580)
0.100-0.149	25.3 (502)
≥0.150	21.2 (422)
Illicit drug findings in oral fluid	14.4 (286)
Amphetamines	1.0 (20)
Cannabis (Tetrahydrocannabinol)	8.5 (169)
Cocaine	7.3 (146)
MDMA	1.8 (35)
Heroin	0.1 (2)
NPS, DMT, or ketamine	0.4 (7)
Medicinal drug findings in oral fluid	1.4 (28)
Sedatives or hypnotics	1.1 (22)
Medicinal opioids	0.4 (7)
Ethylphenidate	0.05 (1)
Simultaneous substance use
Illicit drugs and alcohol	13.3 (264)
Illicit and medicinal drugs^a	0.7 (14)
Two or more illicit drugs^a	3.3 (66)

a With or without simultaneous alcohol use.

Figure 1. Number of positive oral fluid illicit drug tests and breath alcohol tests among 1988 nightlife patrons. Additional findings of medicinal drugs, NPS, and other rarely detected substances are not shown.

Table 4. Some demographic characteristics and drug findings among patrons in relation to time of the night.

	Time of the night (hours)
	10:00-11:59 pm	12:00-1:59 am	2:00-4:05 am
	(n = 506)	(n = 869)	(n = 598)
	% (n)	% (n)	% (n)
Males	54.3 (275)	64.1 (557)***	65.1 (390)***
Drunk weekly	37.7 (191)	42.9 (373)	45.7 (273)**
BAC ≥0.10%	39.9 (199)	44.4 (386)	55.7 (333)***
Any illicit drug	5.7 (29)	13.1 (114)***	23.6 (141)***
Amphetamines	0.4 (2)	0.8 (7)*	1.8 (11)*
Cannabis (THC)	5.1 (26)	9.0 (78)**	10.7 (64)**
Cocaine	0.8 (4)	5.5 (48)***	15.6 (93)***
MDMA	0.0 (0)	1.0 (9)*	4.3 (26)***
Multiple illicit drugs	0.8 (4)	2.5 (22)**	6.7 (40)***

* p < 0.05.

** p < 0.01.

*** p < 0.001 versus patrons included before midnight (reference group); Pearson’s Chi-Square test, df = 1.