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Data were collected using a questionnaire from a sample of 2670 European youngsters representing the most popular recreational areas of 9 cities (Athens, Berlin, Coimbra, Manchester, Modena, Nice, Palma de Mallorca, Utrecht, and Vienna) from February to May 1998 in order to estimate the relevance of weekend nightlife recreational habits that influence the use of drugs in comparison with other more established "risk factors." Areas investigated included: drug use, the relationship with the recreational context, and many other posited "risk" and "protective factors" (such as student performance, family supervision, sensation seeking, onset of drug use, etc). Three patterns of drug use were considered: nonusers (9.8%), legal users (35.6%) and illegal users (54.6%). Data analysis used parametric, nonparametric tests and multinomial logistic regression tests. The variables related to recreational life style were better predictors for establishing the pattern of drug use, than the study's other variables. The study's limited generalizability is due to the lack of representativeness of the sample and its limited description. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]