Blood donations by partygoers to RAVE parties

A medical director of a blood collection center in the USA wonders how others might manage donations from teenagers and young adults who acknowledge participating in RAVE parties. For instance, it is suspected that at such parties there is use of drugs (such as ecstasy, cocaine, etc) and rumored that some party goers might engage in unprotected sexual activity with individuals who have taken illicit drugs. Assuming the aforementioned concerns are true, would a prospective donor who acknowledges having attended a RAVE party be deferred, even if they denied using illicit drugs (such as ecstasy, cocaine, marijuana, etc) and denied having had sex with a person that used illicit drugs? If deferred for merely attending a RAVE party, for how long would the deferral be? If a prospective donor admitted to using ecstasy, cocaine or marijuana, or sexual activity with someone who did take these drugs, would they be deferred based on the drug taken, and for how long?

The following replies were submitted in response to the above:

ADDENDA March 16, 2009

1. A Medical Director of a community blood donation collection organization located in the Southern region of the US reports that they follow the Uniform Donor History Questionaire (UDHQ ) and that they would NOT defer a donor for suspicion of participating in a RAVE party. If the prospective donor admitted to taking drugs by needle or shared something like a straw (resulting in exposure to someone else's mucous membrane) to take cocaine, then they would be deferred. The responding colleague would follow the UDHQ flow charts for the deferral period.

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