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Dance drug use is widespread in the UK nightclub scene. How do we research an illegal activity in such semi-private settings? Howard Parker describes his large-scale study conducted inside functioning […]

The UK has the most drug-involved youth population in the European Union (EMCDDA 1999) and, in particular, the highest proportion of 'recreational' drug users (ESPAD 1997). Household surveys such as […]

This paper gives an overview of some of the most recent research surrounding the use of prohibited or illicit drugs by young people in Britain. Current research on the prevalence of illicit drug use identifies an unprecedented rise in such use by increasingly diverse groups of young people of all socioeconomic backgrounds. Presenting here for the first time 4 years of data from the University of Manchester northwest longitudinal study of English adolescent drug use, the paper looks at patterns of use of different drugs, differential experiences with these drugs, and characteristics of use and non-use throughout the mid-teens. Along with this transformation in adolescent drug use has been a similar rise in the prevalence of drug use by young adults, which is located in the context of the dance party or 'rave' scene in Britain, linked to the 'dance revolution' and to a wider youth culture that reflects an acceptance of drug use both by users and non-users as a part of young people's leisure. This has led the authors to identify a process of 'normalization' of recreational drug use among young people with resulting legal, education, employment, and health implications.

The maximum permissible amount of alpha-emitting curium in the human body ranges from 0.01 to 1 millimicrogram. Inhalation presents the greatest occupational risk. Since curium has but recently become available in quantities approaching a gram, its metabolism is known almost solely by analogy with plutonium and closely related elements. An incident is described concerning a curium accelerator target aerosolized by explosion. Management of the spill, sampling, particle sizing, and medical findings are presented. Seven of the 27 persons present showed low levels of curium excretion. The data from this incident were compared with those from three other inhalation exposures to curium compounds at this Laboratory.