Ecstacy and pseudo-ecstacy tablets. (AP photo)
To do this, U.S. taxpayers will invest $117,876 for the three-year study, conducted by researchers from the University of Delaware, who will work in collaboration with researchers from Brazil's Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul.
According to the NIH summary of the grant, "The topic is interesting and the data will be useful to understand the emerging problem of club drugs and raves in Brazil."
The so-called "party drugs" the study seeks to investigate are known by a number of names and also include methamphetamine, the psycho-stimulant dextroamphetamine, and the ADHD drug Ritalin.
The term “club drugs," according to the NIH summary, "(alternately called 'rave drugs,' 'dance drugs' and 'party drugs') is a vague term that refers to a wide variety of substances, yet in the U.S. the most popular of the club drugs have been MDMA (ecstasy), GHB, ketamine, LSD, methamphetamine, and a few prescription drugs such as dextroamphetamine, and methylphenidate.”
GHB is the chemical abbreviation for a drug more commonly known as the “date rape drug” because it can render users unable to resist sexual advances or to remember attacks.
"Currently, ecstasy use has spread to most major cities in Brazil, and occurs primarily in rave and night-club settings," says the NIH summary.
The summary also said: "The proposal states that they will distribute 'harm reduction' literature at club events and that is positive. However, plans are not fully laid out for developing an intervention that is culturally appropriate and effective for this population. Nevertheless, these were not major weaknesses and the review committee thought that the proposal was outstanding.
This will be the first scientific study of club drug use in Brazil, according to the NIH.
"However," says the grant abstract, "there are few published scientific studies of the health and social consequences of club drug use in general, and none that have been conducted in Brazil. Within this context, the overall goal of the proposed study is to develop the capacity of local investigators to address this emerging health problem through a collaborative research process."
According to an NIH spokeswoman, the study is part of the Fogarty International Research Collaboration Award (FIRCA) program, which gives out federal funds to NIH researchers and their counterparts in developing countries.
The study will monitor 200 drug users aged 18 to 39 and examine their life histories, alcohol and drug abuse, and the progression of those habits. Its immediate goal is to develop Portuguese-language materials for local drug treatment centers.
“As a first step, the data collected will be used to generate Portuguese language training materials that will be made available to local treatment providers and health practitioners,” the abstract says.
"The proposed exploratory project represents a significant first step in the process of better understanding the emerging club drug epidemic in the South of Brazil," it says.