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Nitrous oxide (N2O) use for intoxication among young people has increased in many parts of the Western world, including Denmark. The literature, however, primarily focusses on harms related to N2O use, and not on other aspects, for example modes of administration or effects such as different forms of pleasure or fun. Therefore, despite this increase, we still know very little about how and why young people use nitrous oxide for intoxication, including their experiences of N2O intoxication. Based on 45 qualitative interviews with young Danes age 18-25 years, who all were former or present N2O users, we explore their experiences of N2O intoxication. We do this by analyzing in-depth descriptions of where, how and with whom they use N2O. When analyzing these descriptions in relation to different modes of administration, intensity of use, combination with other substances (e.g. alcohol, cannabis), and use in different settings, we argue that N2O intoxication is experienced differently by the young participants. Some of the participants also searched for particular intoxication experiences with N2O. We unfold the participants' various descriptions of intoxication by differentiating between moderate and intensive use. Overall, our study shows that these differences in N2O use for intoxication are not equally risky or harmful. In general, young people's own perspectives and experiences with (illegal) drug use is increasingly emphasized as important to include when developing preventive interventions. Our analysis of the young participants' differing experiences with N2O for intoxication can inform future prevention initiatives in relation to harms of N2O intoxication.

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BACKGROUND: In his classic work 'Becoming a marihuana user', Howard Becker (1953) showed how drug use learning occurred in social interactions and settings, which in turn shape drug use. Today, social media offers people opportunities to learn about drugs without physical proximity. In this paper, we identify nitrous oxide (N2O) users' key concerns about how to maximise pleasures and minimise harms, as expressed on the social media platform Reddit. In doing so, we consider what learning about N2O online might mean for the provision of drug education in an era of internet technology. METHOD: Data are drawn from a Reddit page (subreddit) dedicated to N2O use. We undertook thematic analysis of 655 threads contributed in late-2020. The subreddit is conceptualised as an internet-mediated social world that constitutes drug user knowledges, practices and identities, rather than simply reflecting them. RESULTS: Our analysis uncovers practices not previously been reported in academic literature or health information on N2O, such as breathing techniques to maximise the effects and use of filters to reduce exposure to oil residue. While education resources often describe effects as 'mild', users recounted intense pleasures including euphoria, anaesthesia, sensory distortion, hallucination and epiphanies, especially when N2O was used with other drugs. Subreddit members were deeply concerned to minimise the risk of harms. Yet official health advice regarding N2O was not referenced, some misinterpretation of scientific literature was apparent and drug treatment was almost never suggested when people recounted harms. CONCLUSION: In contrast to official health resources, the subreddit offers members practical advice on harm reduction. It provides opportunities for users of N2O to position themselves as playful, informed and caring curators of drug use pleasures. We highlight the need for those formulating drug education to engage with the knowledge, practices and identities that emerge within internet-mediated social worlds.

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INTRODUCTION: Significant declines in drinking among young people have been recorded in many high-income countries over the past 20 years. This analysis explored the role of gender - which we interpret as socially constructed and relational - to provide insight into whether and how gender might be implicated in declining youth drinking. METHODS: Interview data from four independent qualitative studies from Australia, Denmark, Sweden and the UK (n=194; participants aged 15-19 years) were analysed by researchers in each country following agreement about analytical focus. Findings were collated by the lead author in a process of 'qualitative synthesis' which involved successive rounds of data synthesis and feedback from the broader research team. FINDINGS: Our analysis raised two notable points in relation to the role of gender in declining youth drinking. The first concerned the consistency and vehemence across three of the countries at which drinkers and states of intoxication were pejoratively described in gendered terms (e.g., bitchy, sleazy). The second related to the opportunities non- and light-drinking offered for expressing alternate and desirable configurations of femininities and masculinities. CONCLUSIONS: We identified an intolerance towards regressive constructions of gender that emphasise weakness for women and strength for men and a valorisation of gendered expressions of maturity through controlled drinking. Though subtle differences in gendered drinking practices between and within countries were observed, our findings offer insight into how young people's enactions of gender are embedded in, and evolve alongside, these large declines in youth drinking.

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BACKGROUND: The aim of this paper is to examine the relationship between youthful drinking practices and gender within the domestic pre-party (prior to a night out), an arena, which has been relatively ignored in existing qualitative research on youthful alcohol use. An examination of the relationships between gender and drinking practices in this context is important for three reasons. First, pre-parties are associated with heavy drinking, which has traditionally been associated with masculinity. Second, because pre-drinking takes place in the private sphere of the home, it is therefore 'controlled' in terms of who can participate and hence what precisely is the gender composition. Third, whilst being located in the private sphere of the home, pre-party practices are nevertheless informed by the (hyper) gendered environments of public drinking spaces in the Night-Time Economy (NTE), most dominantly mainstream clubs and bars. We suggest that such characteristics allow for the emergence of specific gendered relationships, activities and affectivities, thereby demarcating the pre-party as a particular gendered drinking space. METHODS: We draw on narrative data from 140 in-depth face-to-face interviews with young Danish alcohol users between 18-25 years of age. The interviews were part of a large-scale research project on the gendered aspects of youthful alcohol use and intoxication. Theoretically, we draw on a combination of the 'doing gender' paradigm (West & Zimmerman, 1987) and affect theoretical notions on (un)comfortability (Ahmed, 2014). We propose that these perspectives mark out the pre-party as a particularly gendered drinking space. RESULTS: While our analysis supports the observation of existing qualitative studies, that pre-partying is not merely motivated by the possibility of becoming intoxicated in a cheap and un-surveilled way before going out, we especially argue that pre-partying is fueled by a desire for 'comfortability', which seems almost impossible to disassemble from the gendering that pre-partying also entails. Our analysis therefore contributes to the ongoing academic discussion around the relationship between 'intoxicated femininity' and 'intoxicated masculinity' by suggesting that we need to take the affective implications of young people's (gendered) drinking practices into account in a thorough discussion of the relationship between youthful alcohol use and gender.

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In the present article we explore and discuss the gendered aspects of how flirting among young people is an integrated part of a night out among young adults in Denmark, specifically a night out in mainstream bars and clubs. Empirically, we base our analysis on 140 qualitative interviews with regular alcohol users between 18 - 25 years of age. Drawing on Ahmed's (2006) notion on orientation in combination with Thorne's (1993) notions on gender play and borderwork, our aim is to explore and discuss how flirting - for these young people - become an unavoidable interactional practice in Night Time Economy (NTE) contexts, which, in some cases is experienced as easy and enjoyable, and in others as uncomfortable and challenging. In the analysis we specifically focus on how gender norms related to the NTE is navigated and/or challenged by our participants, in relation to flirting. On this basis, we show how the gendered structures of the mainstream NTE are, in some instances, supportive of its participants flirting practices and experiences, and challenging in other cases. In conclusion, we emphasize that the young people relate challenges to queer flirting as well as heterosexual flirting, and that notions of risks in this context relate to risks of marginalization, rather than health risks.