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Data on both known and unknown drug use in the electronic dance music (EDM) scene is important to inform prevention and harm reduction. While surveys are the most common method of querying drug use, additional biological data can help validate use and detect unknown/unintentional use of drugs such as new psychoactive substances (NPS). We sought to determine the extent of both known and unknown use of various substances in this high-risk scene.

We hair-tested 90 self-reported past-year ecstasy/MDMA/Molly users attending EDM parties in New York City during the summer of 2016 using UHPLC–MS/MS. Results were compared to self-reported past-year use.

Three quarters (74.4%) tested positive for MDMA, a third (33.3%) tested positive for an NPS, and 27.8% tested positive specifically for one or more synthetic cathinones (e.g., butylone, ethylone, pentylone, methylone …