An overview of the state of nightlife in Slovenia

The nightlife scene in Slovenia occupies bars, which are open until midnight or slightly longer, clubs, which open their doors at around ten o’clock and close in the early morning hours (typically at 6 a.m.), and public events, which take place outdoors or in larger venues from ten o’clock until seven in the morning. The youngest partygoers, however, rarely attend organized parties due to a lack of funds. For them, it is financially more convenient to buy alcohol in stores and settle in parks or other open spaces. Although the Restrictions on the Use of Alcohol Act strictly prohibits the sale of alcohol to persons under the age of 18, minors nevertheless find ways to get their hands on alcohol, either from older peers or because the cashier simply fails to verify their age. The party scene comes to life mainly on Fridays and Saturdays. A typical night out for youths and young adults starts out in bars or at home. Alcohol remains the drug of choice, however, partygoers tend also to spice up their evenings with marijuana and stimulants (cocaine, amphetamines, ecstasy or recent synthetic drugs such as Methylone). Bars are usually the place to meet before setting off to clubs or public events, whereas many people end up there having started the evening at private parties. Usually, the first arrivals to clubs and other ‘main events’ appear at midnight or later. In order to encourage crowds to show up earlier, organizers offer discount prices on tickets and drinks until midnight. Clubs and electronic music events tend to turn on the lights somewhere between six and seven in the morning and from there, the party moves to an organized or private ‘after-party’. Through outreach work, we have recently noticed an increased awareness on the part of young drivers of the dangers of driving under the influence. Oftentimes, a group of young people will tell us that each week one of them makes the necessary ‘sacrifice’ and remains sober to drive the others around for the night. Two of DrogArt’s projects are devoted to alcohol- related harm reduction. The Choose Yourself project takes place in high schools where we provide valuable information to youngsters on how best to plan a safe night out and on the main risks lurking along the road to and from the party. The After Taxi project provides a system of subsidizes taxis to encourage people to use public transport instead of getting behind the wheel of their own cars or in the passenger seat with a drunk driver. The project is a fine example of a transfer of good practices as it was originally conceived and set in motion in Italy by the Etnoblog organization and later adopted in Slovenia within the scope of the Safe Coast project