Towards the infinite beat

Nora Stojanovic

Healthy Options Project Skopje (HOPS), Kapan An Lokal br 3, Skopje 91000, Macedonia. Phone no: +389 – 91 130 038

The first drug research undertaken in Macedonia was in 1995 and was connected to the heroine epidemic. Carried out by a student, it was called ‘Atomic Music’ and was the only club and drug research available. This research has influenced the problematic drug scene in Macedonia.

This club drug scene is becoming extremely popular and widespread, mainly among young people. The drugs that are being used are of poor quality. Marijuana is the most popular drug, used by about 90%, and then ecstasy and LSD. The quality of ecstasy is very bad since there is no testing and it comes mainly from a local laboratory in Bulgaria. The tablets contain mostly amphetamine, not MDMA. Marijuana, which is widely used, is grown using pesticides and other chemicals in order to gain certain effects when it is consumed. Poor quality drugs are also consumed in Macedonia’s many prisons.

It is very interesting and important to make some kind of categorisations regarding age, gender and the ethnic background of drug users. Adolescents are one of the most difficult to reach populations involved in high-risk behaviour. They are also one of the most vulnerable populations within the whole drug using population. They have no knowledge regarding different types of drugs and harm associated with their use. In comparison to the dynamics of the drug using scene, there is little time to develop experience and skills that will enable adolescent beginners to balance the factors that can affect their lives.

Most of the answers given by the adolescent participants in our study reveal a basic ignorance of the existing scene, the drugs and drugs related harm. ‘Street Mates’ have been playing a crucial role in building up attitudes in relation towards drugs and drug use phenomena. They are still playing a crucial role in building up parallel systems of values and information that serve drug users as a basis for developing individual skills. Therefore ‘Street Mates’ are helping drug users to sustain and survive on the drug using scene, but they are also educating them about unwanted risk and harm. One of the roles of the older and more experienced drug users is a crucial factor of initialising and guiding the youngsters into the drug-using scene. Stigmatisation is closely related to mystification about the drug phenomenon. Threats and dangers related to drug use are usually blown up to enormous proportions, and are often inherited from the drug image of previous years. Police intervention, stigmatisation in the media and general opinion have major effects on the drug-using population, which as a result has become completely hidden.

Perspectives from the club scene

"It is a sub-cultural thing. We have our own rhythm, beat and our own lifestyle so we can live easily, because people are always under pressure from society. There is always the need for people to choose. In the beginning, the scene was very small. …. There is evidence of changing attitudes towards trouble in places where people feel free from social restraints. Everything was naïve and innocent. The purpose of drug use was to expand mind consciousness, to have experiences. These things were supposed to count at the time, but as the scene grew other people came along. Some people said, "Something is not working in our society, especially for young people. Most people do not understand and are so ignorant."

"Looking at the scene from the outside, most people have heard about the ‘house’ or ‘techno’ scene from newspapers. Most of them think that in general it is music produced by computers for drug freaks. They have no idea what it is, how it is made or who is visiting these parties, because they haven’t had the chance to read anything positive. It is sickening because the press have a bad attitude towards the whole thing. There are not that many people in Macedonia who are involved in ‘house’ and ’techno’ music and they should be allowed to stand for something else other than just music and drugs. There are too many bad drugs involved in this culture as a whole, not just the ‘house’ scene. Most kids from the age of 15 or 16 are taking what they call ‘ecstasy’, but it is not real MDMA. They take this intensively for one or two years and then they move onto other drugs. There is no information about any of the different kinds of drugs in Macedonia. Furthermore, club owners themselves are not very well informed about the club drugs."

"Since 1991 we have developed the dance scene in our clubs. Quite a few DJs are doing really well…..But after 10 years the ideology of the ‘summer of love’ and the ‘flower power’ revival in the late 1980s and early 1990s was starting to vanish. Like in the 1960s, when in the beginning people really believed in the ideology, over the years the scene began to become commercialised and people don’t really know anymore why they are taking recreational drugs. On Friday or Saturday they just take as many pills as possible. It is difficult to find caring people who are in clubs. People who are caught with a few joints finish up in jail with bigger sentences, whereas people caught with a few kilos of heroin are walking the streets freely. People are not very satisfied with the way things are developing and they would like to escape, but they will not find what they are looking for in Sweden, Germany or in Poland. I decided to come back and do my part in developing the ‘techno’ scene."

This is a picture of what is going on in clubs in Macedonia. It shows movements that are important in reflecting or influencing the scene. There is a very rich, beautiful culture with the ideology of peace, love, unity and respect, that is trying to survive underground. However, there is still a lot of research and information to be gathered about what is going on in the clubs of Macedonia.