The use of drugs at after-parties

This work discusses the use of drugs in the context of nightlife in Slovenia, focusing primarily on after parties. Both the use of drugs and the after parties are analysed as a specific part of nightlife, arguing that this phenomena need to be understood sociologically and in a broader social context. Because after party as a phenomenon has not yet been thoroughly researched, this work first defines its characteristics and analyses the specificities of attending such events. The use of drugs during after parties is also discussed, focusing specifically on the patterns of drug use, on the difference between the patterns of drug use during parties and after parties, and on the subjective reasons for the use of drugs. Moreover, the work discusses the possible risks of attending after parties and of drug use as well as the consequences that visitors of after parties recognise as either negative or positive. On the basis of the recognised risks, this work further discusses the harm reduction measures, identifying those measures that are often used and recognised as necessary by the participants and those measures that the participants recognised as needed. This work argues that after parties differ from the rest of the nightlife on actual and symbolic level and that they are characterised by specific patterns of drug use as well as specific risks and consequences. Due to these inherent specificities, it is maintained that particular strategies of harm reduction need to be implemented. Some possible harm reduction measures for after parties are hence proposed