Party drug use is soaring, and those taking them are swallowing cocktails of pills not only to get high, but to come down as well, an international conference on youth and drugs has been told. 

Experts from Australia spoke to the fourth International Conference on Drugs and Young People in Wellington this week about party drug use. 

South Australian Drug and Alcohol Services Council spokesman Steve Lymb has been operating a programme in Adelaide aimed at helping young people in the dance party scene. 

He said use of drugs such as amphetamines, Ecstasy, ketamine and GHB in the dance scene was increasing, and he expected the trend would be the same in New Zealand. 

Those in that scene saw it as "culturally acceptable to use party drugs when going out". 

Users were taking cocktails of drugs to get high, and were using others to reduce the effects of coming down afterward. 

Studies done in Australia showed users were aged between 16 and 36.  Those aged between 20 and 29 were the heaviest users. 

The use of pure Ecstasy had diminished in Australia, and it had been replaced with other types of drugs.  Though people thought they might be taking Ecstasy it was more likely it was a mixture of substances, Mr Lymb said. 

Monash University medical student Shaun Baxter, who has done a study on Ecstasy use in Melbourne, said party drug use was growing at a "huge rate". 

Many of the messages drug educators and Governments were pushing missed the mark. 

Drug messages should be targeted at the culture around the drug use rather than treating it as a "pharmacological problem", he said. 

The message should be about minimising drug use rather than saying "don't".