Ecstasy and Related Drugs Reporting System (EDRS)

The Ecstasy and Related Drugs Reporting System (EDRS; formerly the Party Drug Initiative, or PDI) is an ongoing project funded by the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing and conducted every year in every state and territory. It is based on the IDRS methodology, and is co-ordinated by the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre. The project provides a coordinated approach to the monitoring of data associated with ecstasy and related drugs (ERDs), such as methamphetamine, cocaine, GHB and ketamine in Australia. The study is intended to serve as a strategic early warning system that monitors emerging trends in ecstasy and related drug markets, to better prepare policy makers and the health and law enforcement sectors for issues likely to be of future concern. Like the IDRS, the EDRS is also designed to identify areas that require further and more detailed research.

Outputs from the project include the following:]

The EDRS is concerned with monitoring trends in ecstasy and related drug markets, patterns of use, harms related to use and other related issues. It uses a similar methodology to the Illicit Drug Reporting System (IDRS), interviewing regular drug users and key experts, and examining indicator data. Regular ecstasy users are interviewed as they were identified as a group of ERDs users that are able to provide the required information on patterns of use, market characteristics, related harms and other issues associated with ERDs use. Key experts include party promoters, treatment providers, law enforcement personnel) indicator data include purity of drug seizures and overdose rates. These data sources are examined together to identify convergent trends in ERDs use and markets.

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