So, here’s the question. What do the choking game, moscato, ecstasy and mephedrone have in common? Let’s take the choking game. As you have no doubt read, parents and teenagers have been warned about the dangers of this activity, after a seriously ill teenage boy was admitted to Temple Street Children’s Hospital.

The choking game involves putting a noose around your neck, or two people choking each other, to the point just before they become unconscious, in order to get a euphoric high.
Of course, this isn’t the first time it has nudged its way onto the pages of newspapers. Some of you may remember that when INXS frontman Michael Hutchence died, there was mention of the possibility of an auto-erotic stunt having gone wrong…
Well, apparently, in recent times, some young people, mainly in the 11-16-year-old category, have been trying it for the buzz.
Okay, so what about moscato? Well, sales of this slightly sparkling sweet wine exploded over the past three years among younger buyers in the US, especially among the 21 to 30 age group. From almost nil sales less than five years ago, it now accounts for 6% of total US wine sales. According to sales trackers Nielsen (www.nielsen.com), US sales of Moscato increased over 200% between 2009 and 2011 rose again by 78% in 2011, exceeding $300 million in sales for that year.
Interestingly, readers will probably know more about Ecstasy or MDMA than moscato. Once central to dance music culture, ecstasy has been making something of a comeback in recent years. Garda seizures of the drug have doubled year-on-year since 2011.
It’s often mixed with other drugs. For example, a paper in the academic journal European Addiction Research published earlier this year reported on trends in the UK. There, clubbers mix ecstasy and cocaine with the formerly legal mephedrone (banned in the UK in April 2010). Among those who reported having taken ecstasy, three quarters had also taken mephedrone. So...
To begin to answer the question I posed at the outset, they all have in common that they deliver a buzz. That’s a start. But what’s far more interesting is that they are underground trends, happening out there under everyone’s noses, yet largely unnoticed in mainstream media or political thought.
Knowledge of the choking game, whether for the buzz or as part of an erotic experience, is passed on by word of mouth. But passed on it most certainly is. More than 80 deaths have been linked to the choking game in the US. Dr Kevin Carson of Temple Street Hospital in Dublin was recently quoted in newspapers as saying that there is a misconception that the high is safe because it doesn’t involve drugs.
As for moscato, its rise and rise is closely connected with rap and hip-hop. Now, that’s a change. Previously the drinks most associated with hip-hop were at the high end of the spectrum: Busta Rhymes rapped about Courvoisier, Jay-Z about Louis Roederer Cristal and Armand de Brignac Ace of Spades champagne, while Nas rhymed about upmarket vodka Grey Goose.
Well, they’ve moved on. Moscato has been namechecked in songs by Kanye West, Drake, Lil’ Kim, Soulja Boy, Gucci Mane, Roscoe Dash and Kendrick Lamar.
Has this triggered the increase in sales or are the rappers reflecting what’s already happening among their fans? Nobody knows and there’s a serious debate among hip hop fans as to whether Moscato traditions are being distorted by hip hop music ().
It should be one of those stories that excites everyone, even police forces and temperance evangelists. After all, at its best, moscato is both pure and aromatic and light in alcohol – at around 5.5%, it’s a lot less intoxicating than, say, Grey Goose vodka. Not that it isn’t seen as part of a seduction. As Waka Flocka Flame says: “I’m gonna sip my moscato and you gonna lose them pants.”
But what fascinates economists and market analysts is that these huge increases in American sales of Moscato are happening without any particular merchandising push at the major outlets for such wines.
As for the entrenchment of poly-drug use (among clubbers in particular), it had been thought that this was caused by the decline in quality of ecstasy and cocaine. But the research reported in European Addiction Research shows a more complex picture. Many users said they favoured mephedrone over other drugs because it improves the experience of sex.
So, these phenomena are underground processes. There is an insider, word-of-mouth quality to their dissemination. The choking game apart, they are associated with music in particular. While niche media and social media are significant because they are immersed in the cultures, it goes without saying that there is no sport or arts sponsorship or major advertising push involved. As regards moscato, far from initiating and promoting consumption, the industry has been frantically trying to catch up with demand.
Public health advisors and policymakers seem unable to see the wood for the trees. They think they can control drug and alcohol behaviours through broadbrush restrictions targeting supply and demand. But the choking game, the moscato surge and the entrenchment of poly-drug use show that the demand side is far more complex than they think. Outlaw one buzz and another takes its place.
These developments undermine the case for population-wide control mechanisms. An honest appraisal of their implications would support efforts to promote self-agency, harm reduction, individual and group risk management and responsibility on the part of both drinkers and sellers.
But of course that’s too awkward for policy makers to get their heads around. Blunt instruments and self-delusion rule. Same as it ever was...