Kiwis, clubs and drugs: club cultures in Wellington, New Zealand.

• Jurisdiction: Australia
• Date: 01 April 2010
• Author: Hutton, Fiona

Illicit drug use within club cultures has been well documented internationally, but research and scholarship about New Zealand club cultures is scarce. This article explores recreational drug use among a sample of 18-48-year-old clubbers in Wellington clubs, New Zealand in 2004-5. The normalisation thesis is used as a basis for analysis with a focus on the issues raised by this thesis. The problematic issues raised by the normalisation thesis and developed in this article were that the processes of normalisation, including current regular drug use and drug-wiseness, varies between locales and between casual, formal or reformed drug users. This reflects both variation in 'cultural accommodation of the illicit' and the nature of the diverse population represented.

Keywords: club cultures, normalisation thesis, drug use

**********

The use of illicit drugs such as ecstasy within club cultures has been well documented as has the development of club cultures globally (see Collin, 1997; Green, 2005; Haslam, 1999; Hunt & Evans, 2003; Hutton, 2006; Malbon, 1998; Measham, Aldridge, & Parker, 2001; Redhead, 1993; Richard & Kruger, 1998; Sanders, 2005; Saunders, 1997; Ter Bogt, Engels, Hibbel, Van Wel, & Verhagen, 2002; Thornton, 1995). Club cultures and recreational drug use are topics that are underresearched in a New Zealand context and there has been little investigation about the use of illicit substances in clubbing contexts. New Zealand studies have a tendency to focus on the mapping and prevalence of drugs such as ecstasy, cannabis and methamphetamine (see e.g., Wilkins & Sweetsur, 2008 for a discussion of the New Zealand Household Drug Surveys [NZHDS] 1998, 2001, 2003, 2006). The data contained in these surveys indicate that there have been increases in the use of drugs such as ecstasy and methamphetamines (Wilkins & Sweetsur, 2008). The NZHDS 1998 shows that 4.2% of respondents stated they had tried ecstasy, with 2.1% stating they had used it in the previous year. In the 2003 NZHDS, ecstasy use increased to 5.5% of survey respondents, although last year use decreased from 3.4% of survey respondents in 2001 to 2.9% of survey respondents in 2003 (Wilkins & Sweetsur, 2008). The 2006 NZHDS shows a further increase in ecstasy use with 8.0% of survey respondents reporting they had ever tried ecstasy and 3.9% of respondents stating that they had tried ecstasy in the last twelve months (Wilkins & Sweetsur, 2008). Methamphetamine use in New Zealand has also risen. The NZHDS found that 0.2% of participants had tried crystal methamphetamine in 1998, rising to 1.3% of all survey participants in 2002, again rising to 1.8% of all survey users in 2003. There was no change in methamphetamine use in the 2006 NZHDS (Wilkins & Sweetsur, 2008).

The Illicit Drug Monitoring Survey (IDMS), implemented in 2005, is a research tool designed to identify trends in drug use, drug availability and harms associated with the use of drugs such as ecstasy, cannabis and methamphetamines. The IDMS, 2006 showed that frequent drug users (those who had used in the past year) thought more people were using ecstasy and that it was 'fairly easy' to obtain, so the demand for, and supply of ecstasy in New Zealand has not declined amongst some social groups (Wilkins, Girling, & Sweetsur, 2007). Although both the NZNHDS and the IDMS show an increase in the use of drugs such as ecstasy and crystal methamphetamine it should also be noted that the numbers referred to as using these drugs remains small. In addition, while prevalence and mapping studies are very useful in giving 'broad brush' views of drug use they lack information about the nuances and subtleties of drug use in particular contexts.

Therefore the local is still important in acknowledging the subtleties and nuances in clubbing and drug use even though club cultures have developed internationally or globally. The meanings attached to these activities become apparent in a consideration of 'clubbing' in local contexts. For instance, while club cultures exist internationally, within club cultures there are still significant differences in both music styles and drug use. For example, the popularity of 'gabber' (1) in the Netherlands, hard dance music in New Zealand and 'break beats' in the United Kingdom. (2) Differences in drug use are also apparent with the popularity of BZP-based party pills (3) in New Zealand which are largely unheard of in the UK. Therefore qualitative, local studies are important in examining drug use and club cultures.

Clubbing, Drug Use and the Normalisation Thesis

In exploring drug use and clubbing researchers have highlighted a number of key debates surrounding the use of drugs such as ecstasy within club cultures. These centre on gender (Hutton, 2006; Pini, 2001), sexuality (Degenhardt, 2005), risk taking (Kelly, 2005; McElrath, 2005), the development of clubbing as a leisure activity (Measham et al., 2001; Redhead 1993; Thornton, 1995), and the development of specific local scenes such as Manchester (see Collin, 1997; Haslam, 1999). More recently, scholarship has focused on the normalisation thesis developed by Parker and colleagues in the 1990s (Blackman, 2004, 2007; Duff, 2005; Manning 2007; Measham, 2004; Parker, Williams, & Aldridge, 2002; Sznitman, 2007; South, 1999). Of relevance to the current research are past studies and commentaries that have included within their scope: the development of clubbing as a leisure activity, the importance of understanding local clubbing cultures and the normalisation of drug use.

Although clubbing has been noted as a global phenomenon, differences between the cultures and contexts of clubbing have also been highlighted (Hunt & Evans, 2003). The combination of the drug ecstasy and new electronic forms of music facilitated an explosion in youth culture that is still prevalent today. This explosion of club culture/s is largely regarded as developing in three phases from the 'summer of love' and the original 'acid house' parties (1988/1989), to the phenomenon of 'rave' with this type of leisure activity peaking and becoming popular and widespread (1990-92), to 1993 onwards and the emergence of 'dance' (Measham et al., 2001, p. 20). The term summer of love refers to the effects of the drug ecstasy as clubbers often describe themselves as 'luved up'. It is also refers to the 1960s ethos of love and peace that was seen by some observers to be recreated in the club cultures of the 1980s. The era of 'dance' saw the commercialisation of clubs, music and fashion that facilitated the fragmentation of club cultures and the development of diverse spaces, music styles and clubbing experiences (Measham et al., 2001. p. 20). In comparison to European cities the dance scene in New Zealand 'took off' in about 1994-1995, much later than in Britain where the 1988 summer of love was seen as a key moment in the development of dance music and clubbing.

Researchers have also explored the phenomenon of clubbing in terms of difference and diversity. Thornton (1995) examined the tensions apparent in club cultures and argued that these kinds of social groups were stratified within themselves. These hierarchies resulted in fragmented clusters that shared the term 'club culture' while maintaining distinct dance styles, music genres and behaviours. Malbon (1998), in his examination of the experience of clubbing, noted the fluidity of clubbing groups and argued that clubbers often moved between different groups throughout their clubbing careers. The idea of diversity and difference was further developed by Hutton (2006) in her examination of the experiences of a group of female Manchester-based clubbers. The typology of mainstreams and undergrounds was used to explore the differences in club spaces and the concept of 'attitude' was developed in relation to the diversity of clubbing experiences for women.

This article will focus on the issues raised by the normalisation thesis in exploring recreational drug use, (4) and will also incorporate the perspective of cultural criminology as a means to explain not only the ways in which Wellington clubbers use drugs, but also the pleasurable side of what is usually considered to be criminal. Katz (1988) explored crime and deviance through the idea of the 'seduction of crime', which was further developed by Ferrell and Sanders (1995), Ferrell and Websdale (1999) and Presdee (2000). Crime ranging from drug use to joyriding from this perspective is fun and involves risk-taking that gives a certain style or cool image to those taking part in these activities. Cultural criminology conceptualises crime and deviance as culture by focusing on style or the meanings attached to behaviour such as drug use. Presdee (2000) goes so far as to see the notion of carnival as appropriate; a period of excess and transgressions set apart from everyday life. Carnival participants return to their everyday selves after engaging in a 'time out' from the pressures of everyday life.

Placing drug use within the debates contained in cultural criminology allows for a reassertion of emotionality in drug use (Measham, 2004). Contemporary researchers need to move away from 'rational' explanations for drug-taking behaviour and traditional motivational accounts of crime. Cultural criminology is a means to acknowledge a unique local way of using drugs in Wellington clubs and to also explore the 'cultural accommodation of the illicit' (Measham, 2004, p. 209). Accounts of drug use have noted that the idea of pleasure is often excluded from discourses about drug use (Duff, 2008; Hutton, 2006). However, drug-taking in a clubbing context can be explored in cultural criminological terms as fun and nondeviant (5) (Ferrell & Sanders, 1995) and refrained as pleasurable and exciting. As Williams and Parker (2001) highlight, drug and alcohol consumption can be seen as a celebration, 'to feel happy, excited, energetic and sociable' (p. 407).

Drug...