Giving Drug Advice Along With Music

(September 2013)
By James McKinley, Jr.

When the TomorrowWorld festival opens outside Atlanta on Friday, concertgoers can expect to see safety measures that have become common at European electronic dance music festivals but have yet to catch on in the United States: a nonprofit drug education group will be giving advice, not only on the dangers of drug abuse, but also on how those who choose to take party drugs can use them more safely.

 

The music industry will be watching TomorrowWorld closely to see if organizers can avoid the kind of drug-related deaths that have marred several big dance-music festivals since March, most recently Electric Zoo in New York City. At least seven young people at these events have died of symptoms consistent with Ecstasy overdoses, and scores of others have been hospitalized, prompting promoters to cancel concerts and fueling worries among music executives that negative publicity could scare off investors and corporate sponsors, damaging a $4.5 billion industry.

      

Giving concertgoers tips on avoiding overdoses has been controversial in the United States, where zero tolerance for drugs has been standard policy among promoters. Such programs — from fliers describing guidelines for dosages of Ecstasy (MDMA, also known as Molly) to public service announcements from D.J.’s about taking breaks from dancing and not mixing the drug with alcohol — have also encountered resistance from some police and local officials, who say they can be seen as condoning the use of illegal drugs, drug policy experts said.

 

But Shawn Kent, the United States project manager for ID&T, the Belgian company producing TomorrowWorld, said promoters are facing a hard reality: even with zero tolerance, tight security, confiscation of drugs at entrances, undercover narcotics officers in the crowd and paramedics and ambulances on hand, promoters cannot stop all concertgoers from making bad decisions. “This is a societal issue,” he said. “The way to help people who have these issues is to give them information. At some point, it’s individual responsibility.”

 

TomorrowWorld’s decision hints at a broader debate in America: Is it best to urge abstention and take a hard line against drug users? Or is it better to accept drug use as an entrenched practice, treat addicts and teach others to imbibe intoxicants more safely?

 

Shortly after the deaths at Electric Zoo over Labor Day weekend, TomorrowWorld entered an agreement with DanceSafe, a charity with chapters around the country that distributes information about the safer use of drugs like Ecstasy. About 20 DanceSafe volunteers will attend the festival. Some will roam the crowd, distributing handbills about how to avoid overdoses, while others will staff an air-conditioned “cool-down” lounge, where they will offer counseling on drugs and alcohol to concertgoers taking a break from the heat. Digital signs throughout the festival will encourage people to be mindful of safety, with messages like “Do you know where your friends are?” and “We can talk about her,” a reference to Molly. TomorrowWorld will not only be the first major festival since the deaths at Electric Zoo, but it will also be the initial foray of a major European promoter into the American market. Organizers expect to draw 50,000 people a day to a horse farm in

Chattahoochee Hills, just southwest of Atlanta, for three days of music. Performances will take place on eight stages, and the lineup features many of the genre’s biggest stars, including Tiësto, David Guetta and Armin van Buuren.

 

In addition to the festival’s strict no-drugs policy, Mr. Kent said that only people over 21 can enter. Security guards with dogs will search cars and pedestrians and confiscate any drugs they find, and about 30 security cameras will scan the crowd for dealers and impaired concertgoers.

 

Steve Pasierb, the president of the Partnership at Drugfree.org, called DanceSafe’s approach “a series of half measures” that play down the threat MDMA poses to body and brain. “It’s like saying smoke all you want, but just make sure they are menthols with filters,” he said. “We would like to see a whole lot more education about why it’s not safe to use at all, rather than a wink and a nod.”

 

Correction: September 27, 2013
An article ... misstated the surname of the president of the board of DanceSafe, a charity that will have volunteers at the festival providing information. She is Missi Wooldridge, not Woolridge.
(http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/26/arts/music/giving-drug-advice-along-with-music.html?_r=0)

"Let's re-quote Madonna!" (aka..."This is what the 'experts' on 'recovery' say...)

In the last month we've done a continuing series on the media's reaction to the rise of the EDM scene and the purported rise of "bad" things along with it -- specifically, the recent interest in the deaths of underage (aka under 21) attendees of some of these events which have specifically been blamed or associated with "Molly" (aka "MDMA") ... Nearing the end of this series, I thought it may be of interest to our readers to see what some of the recovery "experts" (aka Brought to You by the Good People at Cornerstone Recovery Center!) had to say about this whole thing...Read on below...

(September 2013)
By Cornerstone Recovery Center

The Rise of Drug Use at Electronic Music Festivals and Teenage Drug-Related Deaths

“Have you met my best friend, Molly? She’s a blast!” This has been the popular phrase amongst electronic music festival attendees and rave partygoers. Contrary to the common belief that molly is safer than other drugs because it is a ‘pure’ form of ecstasy, molly is not a safe drug. Molly is the street name for the drug MDMA, also known as ecstasy. It is now at the center of these new electronic music festivals, also known as EDM (electronic dance music) festivals. It is being taken in a powdered form replacing the more common pill form seen in the 1990’s.

Teenagers are clearly drawn to these types of festivals. The music stars, who are their heroes, and even celebrities who once seemed to promote a family-friendly image – like Miley Cyrus during her Hanna Montana days – are now promoting a culture of sex and debauchery, as witnessed in her troubling performance at the MTV Video Music Awards recently.

According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, sixty percent of people who took MDMA on a regular basis reported withdrawal symptoms, which is a good indication of the drug’s addictive nature. There are also many troubling side effects, which in some cases contributed to the drug-related deaths at electronic music festivals. They include:

• Paranoia and delusions
• Confusion and depression
• Severe anxiety
• Psychotic episodes
• Uncontrollable shaking and teeth grinding
• Sleep problems and ongoing drug cravings

 

Music Festivals and Drugs are Intertwined

The music scene and drug abuse have long been associated with one another. Anyone who has seen video footage of Woodstock in 1969 will remember the ominous voice heard over the loud speakers warning the crowd, “Do not take the brown acid.” Forty-four years later, the types of drugs that people are taking and the type of music they are listening to have changed, but the risk of death from a drug overdose remains the same – or even higher.

No matter how many safety precautions the event promoters try to employ, there’s little they can do to stop teenage drug abuse from happening at these concerts. Young people are looking for an epic, otherworldly experience when attending these festivals and it isn’t difficult for many of them to conceal drugs when entering the event.

Even if parents warn their children about the dangers of drug abuse and they make sure their kids are drug-free when attending these festivals, there is often no shortage of drugs available to them once on the festival grounds. The recent deaths at the Electric Zoo festival are a perfect example. At Randall’s Island in New York City over the Labor Day weekend, two concertgoers died as a direct consequence of their drug use. Both could barely be considered adults at the ages of 20 and 23.

The New York Times reported that there was rampant drug and alcohol abuse at Electric Zoo. According to the Times report, several of the festival attendees had seen dozens of people vomiting and unconscious after drinking alcohol and/or using drugs. Many of them were not being attended to by any medical staff. “You saw a lot of people puking, collapsing down and laying on the ground,” Christopher Stuebbe was quoted as saying in the article, 19, who had come to the festival from Ohio.
Additionally, the Electric Daisy Carnival has witnessed a spate of drugs in its various locations.

In the 2010 Los Angeles show, a 15-year old girl died of a drug overdose. The electric music festival fared no better in Vegas, where two youngsters died just last year. The Festival was also held in Texas in 2011, and a teenager died of a drug overdose there as well. There were dozens of drug arrests by Texas police at that particular show.

 

Ecstasy and Molly: Same Thing, Different Era

Molly is often combined with other, more toxic substances, and there is nothing from preventing the makers of this powder from putting whatever they want in it. This situation is basically an evolution of the “raves” that were held in warehouses and other underground locations for the last couple of decades. It is common knowledge that teenagers would take ecstasy and dance to electronic music at raves until the wee hours of the morning. Raves, now known as electronic music, or EDM, festivals, have gone mainstream and ecstasy, or molly, is a hot trend among teens and one that parents need to watch out for.

Cornerstone Recovery Center is a drug and alcohol abuse treatment facility located in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. We have a knowledgeable staff that is very familiar with the symptoms of ecstasy abuse.

(http://cornerstonerecoverycenter.com/cornerstone-recovery-center/the-rise-of-drug-use-at-electronic-music-festivals-and-teenage-drug-related-deaths/)

Major Lazer Take Aim at Media Over EDM Show Drug Deaths

Says PPLB to Our Readers: "Hello. Today is Friday the 13th of September. It's not a huge secret I love what I do for work and all the people I am able to help at FLG (the law group I am currently working for) but unfortunately too many people still fall through the cracks. Sadly, in today's society, while some issues get a lot of media exposure (and thus political and financial support for certain ideas/agendas/groups...and not others) others do not. Sadly, a lot of the exposure EDM shows have been getting lately has been negative due to the careless actions of a few individuals.

Even if it was only 10% of the attendees (and I know it is FAR more than this!) of these events were there truly for the music and the community these events and the artists who perform them should not be banned from the public sector because some people are going to use these events as an opportunity to do bad acts. People can do bad acts anywhere and any time and there are far more things we as a society culturally support and encourage which are far more damaging to society as a whole than the EDM scene it's not even funny. So, with that said, I agree with Diplo who said, "Persecuting a festival is not going to help." Read below to understand more...

(September 2013)
By Hillary Hughes
Dance and EDM artists have been enduring an onslaught of unwelcome attention in the wake of the deaths at New York's Electric Zoo and a Zedd show in Boston last month. This was apparent at Boston Calling Festival over this past weekend, where 21 drug-related arrests were made. (Although, notably, none of the arrests were for the drug at the center of the firestorm, molly - or powdered MDMA.)

One of the bigger  festival draws, Diplo and his Major Lazer crew, had some strong opinions on the media firestorm.

"The generation that comes next is always going to rebel against the generation that came before, and they're always going to be at odds with each other," Major Lazer's Jillionaire told Rolling Stone this past weekend at the Boston Calling Festival. "It doesn't matter what anyone who's 50-years-old has to say about these festivals. How many kids go to a football game and drink too much beer?" (emphasis added by PPLB)

"How many kids drive a car when they shouldn't?" Diplo added. "The drug thing happens, and this is the first time music writers can have something to write about. Electronic music is so young, and these audiences are full of 18 - no, 13-year-olds - and people who are 30, and 30 is old. Music writers and critics are old. When I was younger and living in Philadelphia, there was a crazy heroin problem. I had a lot of friends who died from Oxycontin and heroin overdoses. No one wrote about those kids. When 6,000 kids party for three days and two kids die, it's a story because the writers don't write about electronic music, as it's flat and boring all the time."

According to Jillionaire, the problem could stem simply from drug inexperience. "It's going to sound weird, but we need to teach kids how to do drugs, the same way we teach them about drinking responsibly and having safe sex," he said. "If you're going to go to a festival, drink water for six days before you get there; don't drink no alcohol. If you're going to do a pill and a half, don't do four more and then pass out, overheat, and die of cardiac arrest. Instead of acting like drugs don't exist, acknowledge that drugs will be at a festival and address them." (emphasis added by PPLB)

"We're such a conservative culture that we'd rather not talk about the things kids want to do, even though they're going to do them anyway," Diplo said. "We'd rather ignore it to solve the problem. In Florida, where I'm from, drugs have been a part of club culture since day one. Kids have always been going to raves in the woods. 20 years ago, Orlando was one of the first places to have rave culture, and we learned how to do drugs. It's going to happen; you can't control it. Persecuting a festival is not going to help it because kids are going to do them regardless. Hell, they'll do them in their houses.

That's why crystal meth is a problem in America. Drugs are a big problem in America, because we have money to spend and a culture that wants to be turnt up all the time." (emphasis added by PPLB)

Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/major-lazer-take-aim-at-media-over-edm-show-drug-deaths-20130912#ixzz2qoZEevG0
(http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/major-lazer-take-aim-at-media-over-edm-show-drug-deaths-20130912#ixzz2mB0N0xdN)

Drugs, Death and Dance Music: Two died at Electric Zoo, but are raves really more dangerous than other events?

"... are raves really more dangerous than other events?"

(September 2013)
By Steve Knopper

As lights flashed, monster beats pounded and thousands of ravers threw their arms in the air, things took a dark turn on August 31st, the second day of New York's annual Electric Zoo festival. In separate incidents, two young fans, University of New Hampshire student Olivia Rotondo, 20, and recent Syracuse University graduate Jeffrey Russ, 23, died after apparently taking MDMA, which is commonly referred to as Ecstasy (in its pill form) and Molly (a powder). According to a New York Post report, Rotondo told an EMS worker, "I just took six hits of Molly," before suffering a massive seizure.

Electric Zoo, which drew 90,000 dance-music fans to New York's Randall's Island, featured a deep lineup of top talent – including David Guetta, Avicii and Diplo. Early the next morning, organizers spoke to city officials via conference call, and all parties agreed to cancel the event's final day – presumably, among other concerns, there was a fear that whatever had killed the young fans could still be circulating. (A toxicology report is pending; four other people were hospitalized, and there had been 31 arrests.) "Everyone said, 'We need 100 percent assurance that we can put this on safely,'" says Stefan Friedman, spokesman for promoter Made Event, "and the decision was made that if this was not possible, we were not going to put a third day on."


Electric Zoo

The deaths (along with that of 19-year-old Brittany Flannigan, who died the previous week after overdosing on what was presumed to be Molly at a Zedd show at Boston's House of Blues) are tragic reminders of the complex relationship between drugs and EDM events. Since at least the early 1990s, raves and dance music have been strongly associated with MDMA. When it's pure, the drug is significantly safer than, say, cocaine. To get a sense of how rarely MDMA is fatal, in 2011 the BBC reported that there were 500,000 yearly Ecstasy users in the U.K. and just 27 deaths.

But most fans have no way of knowing if what they are getting is real. This year, as many as 20 people in the U.K. have died after taking what they thought were Ecstasy pills, many of which contained PMA, a much more toxic drug that mimics the effects of MDMA. Molly, which has a reputation for being more pure, is at least as easy to tamper with. In fact, half of the "MDMA" recently tested at U.S. festivals by a group called DanceSafe, which makes simple testing kits available to fans online, was found to be fake. "The biggest issue with Molly is it's a white powder, and a white powder can be absolutely anything," says psychiatrist Julie Holland, who edited Ecstasy: The Complete Guide.

Since 2003, the Illicit Drug Anti-Proliferation Act, a law that targets dance events, has made it difficult for organizers to address this problem. Under the law, promoters can be fined $250,000, or arrested, if it can be demonstrated that they know drugs are being used at their event – severely hampering visible harm-reduction efforts. But in Portugal, for instance, where recreational use of the drug is decriminalized, things are different. "If you go to raves in Portugal, they have testing booths," says Ed Karney, manager of top underground DJs, including Seth Troxler. "You can literally go and get all of them tested for purity every single day. In the U.K., some of the raves will have testing areas. These testing kits are readily available, and it's just a matter of whether the authorities are going to allow that to go on."

It's also not clear if there really are more deaths at EDM events than at other music festivals. Ten concertgoers have died at Bonnaroo, for instance, since it began in 2002, some of them due to illegal substances. "It sucked that this happened," says David Grutman, operating partner of Miami megaclub LIV. "We don't promote it and it's not allowed, but anytime there's a party atmosphere going on, you always get those people that try to push the limits."

Electric Zoo officials insist the festival was as safe as it could possibly be – at any given moment, 70 emergency medical technicians, 15 paramedics, five ER nurses, two physicians and numerous other medical personnel were on hand at Randall's Island. During a press conference after the tragedy, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg praised promoter Made Event for putting in "as good procedures as we could think of."

But as long as young fans are gathering in huge numbers, with many of them taking drugs, there are risks. "The EDM culture exists because kids like to get fucked up and dance," says a concert-business source. "Right now, this crowd's doing it in electronic music. In 1969, it was called Woodstock."

(http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/drugs-death-and-dance-music-20130911#ixzz2mB0nvGd6)

Drug Deaths Threaten Rising Business of Electronic Music Fests

(September 2013)
By Ben Sisario & James C. McKinley, Jr.

The electronic dance music business, propelled by huge festivals featuring star D.J.’s and psychedelic light shows, has grown to an estimated worth of $4.5 billion, a number that is luring both Wall Street investors and mainstream corporate sponsors. Yet a recent string of drug-related deaths has highlighted the risks not only to fans, but to the businesses looking to profit from the craze.

Since March, at least seven young people attending dance events around the country have died after exhibiting symptoms consistent with overdoses from MDMA and other so-called party drugs, often called ecstasy or molly. This month, the Electric Zoo festival on Randalls Island was shut down at the request of New York City officials after two patrons died, apparently from MDMA overdoses, officials said.       

Executives say that deaths like these have the potential to scare off investors and the corporate sponsors that are eager to reach the genre’s young, affluent and technologically connected fans.

The ecstasy-related deaths come just weeks before an expected initial public offering by SFX Entertainment, a new company whose fortunes are predicated on sponsorship and media deals for electronic dance music, or E.D.M. According to its prospectus, SFX wants to raise as much as $300 million through its I.P.O., much of it to acquire promoters like Made Event, the company behind Electric Zoo.

Festivals draw tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of fans to see well-known D.J.’s like David Guetta, Tiesto and Deadmau5, with top festivals charging up to $300 for two or three days of music. Defenders of the dance world say they are being singled out by the news media. Drugs and overdoses, they say, have long been associated with popular music. For example, 10 people have died since 2002 at the Bonnaroo festival in Tennessee, many from drug-related causes.

“The scrutiny that this is going to come under because of the stock market deal with SFX, it’s like a magnifying glass that’s unfair,” said Amy Thomson, the manager behind Swedish House Mafia, one of the genre’s most successful acts.

Robert F. X. Sillerman, the chief executive of SFX, said in an interview that his company was committed to providing a safe environment, and that as dance music “has grown from uncontrollable rave parties to professionally run festivals and events, it in fact provides the opportunity to provide health and safety guidance.”

He declined to discuss business details, citing the mandatory “quiet period” before the I.P.O. But TomorrowWorld, a festival near Atlanta this month in which SFX is a majority partner, is working with DanceSafe, a nonprofit group, to provide educational information about the dangers of drug use, said Shawn Kent, one of the executives behind the event.

SFX seemed to anticipate the need for greater medical care when it appointed to its board Dr. Andrew N. Bazos, an orthopedic surgeon with experience in “comprehensive medical coverage for large-capacity venues,” according to its prospectus.

Drugs have been linked to the mythology and slang of dance culture for decades, and the current ecstasy scare reflects an earlier wave in the 1990s when cities around the country cracked down on illegal raves. Today, stars like Miley Cyrus and Kanye West allude to molly in songs, and the term turns up repeatedly at festivals, on T-shirts, banners or body paint.

Among the deaths in recent months is that of Matthew Rybarczyk, a 20-year-old from Staten Island, who collapsed with a 107-degree temperature at a Governors Island rave on July 14.

When Mr. Rybarczyk’s grandmother saw him in the hospital the next morning, he was contorted unrecognizably and was bleeding from his nose and mouth; he died 14 hours later. The medical examiner found methylone in his system, an ecstasylike drug sometimes sold as molly.

“It was the saddest thing of all to watch him die,” his grandmother, Peggy Rybarczyk, said. “He went to have a good time and he never came home.”

A growing history of drug-related deaths has not slowed the genre’s popularity. In 2010, a 15-year-old girl died from an overdose of ecstasy at Electric Daisy Carnival in Los Angeles, but the festival has since spread around the country and even to London. This year, Live Nation Entertainment, the world’s biggest concert company, bought half of Insomniac, the company behind the festival, for a reported $50 million.

In an interview, Pasquale Rotella, Insomniac’s founder, defended his company’s security measures, and said that dance promoters, to some degree, “inherit societal problems.”

But he and others in the industry admitted that the negative perceptions had kept away sponsorship money.

“If you look at dance festivals in general, you don’t typically see a ton of branding yet,” said Edward H. Shapiro, a lawyer who works with dance acts. “Part of that has been this notion that it isn’t an environment that is ripe for really big brands to participate in.”

Many of the most prominent branding deals in the electronic dance music world have been tied to artists, including Absolut Vodka with Swedish House Mafia, and Pepsi with the D.J. Calvin Harris. But for even the most popular dance festivals, the sponsor rosters are dwarfed by those of comparable rock and pop events, like Lollapalooza or Coachella.

The sponsors of Electric Zoo this year included Coors Light and Blue Moon beers, owned by Molson Coors; Vita Coco, a coconut water drink; and Hi-Chew, a fruit-flavored snack. Constellation Brands, whose Pacifico beer was also a supporter, said in a statement that its sponsorships “are focused on providing a peaceful, safe and responsible environment for fans 21-and-older to enjoy our product, and are made on a case-by-case basis.” Other sponsors have not commented.

Most major festival promoters have zero-tolerance drug policies, and their sites have security checks, free water stations, first-aid tents and ambulances on call. Such measures are essential for insurance purposes and are often required by state law for any large gathering.

No promoter can prevent all drugs from entering a festival site, nor can do they do anything about drugs consumed before an attendee walks through the gate. Yet many in the dance world think promoters and stars need to do more to discourage it.

“I don’t think we should be scared of saying ‘don’t do drugs,’ ” said A-Trak, a top D.J. “There is this sort of elephant in the room, where people are scared to say, ‘That stuff is dangerous and don’t mess around.’ ”

But Armin van Buuren, another popular D.J., said that Electric Zoo was one of the better-run festivals he had attended, with plenty of security and medical personnel.

“For some reason we have the stamp of drug misuse and I think that it’s unfair,” he said. “It ruins the party for a lot of other people.”

(http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/10/arts/music/drugs-at-music-festivals-are-threat-to-investors-as-well-as-fans.html?_r=0)

PPLB **TOP PICK OF 2013** "Why MDMA is destroying EDM"

THANK YOU TO ALL WHO VOTED!! WINNER OF PHRIENDS & PHAMILY LAW BLOG TOP ARTICLE PICKED BY SUBMITORS IN 2013!! CONGRATULATIONS DEREK!!

Writer’s Note: With all of the above written, it’s your choice whether to imbibe at a festival. Personally, I choose not to partake in powders during music festivals, and the last three years of covering festivals has been a thrill. On the other hand, I maintain friendships with adults who prefer to indulge and feel that greater connection with those around them. In the end, this is your life, and you should make decisions justly. We just hope that you do it as safely as possible.

(September 2013)
By Derek Staples

My time at Perry’s Stage during Lollapalooza 2011 opened my eyes to the new culture of electronic dance music. Just a few years earlier, Perry’s was a small, barely lifted stage situated within the wooded area of Grant Park. By August 2011, a new form of dubstep was taking over American dance music, and with the influx of these blistering beats stormed an entirely new demographic of EDM fanatic. To house this new legion, Perry’s began expanding into the mammoth structure that it is today. As if the tent that year somehow established a barrier against the rules of the outside world, pills were distributed by the bag full, strangers could be seen grinding fervently up against other strangers, and somehow a fight broke out during Modeselektor. It wasn’t that any of this was necessarily new– Miami had offered a warm introduction to the club scene years earlier– it was just the cumulative amount of excess and ignorance that I couldn’t look past.

Actually, I haven’t returned to Lolla since.
As this weekend’s tragic news from Electric Zoo attests, the hedonistic actions described above are not relegated to just one festival, state, or subgenre. The new drug culture has begun to infect the very roots of the EDM community– a community that has lost base with its own history and is therefore attempting to grow without context. While dilated pupils, passed-out revelers, finger dipping, and open drug deals are a common site at festivals ranging from broad appeal events like Bonnaroo and Coachella to more EDM-focused fests like EDC and Camp Bisco, Perry’s Stage at Lolla serves as the perfect microcosm for the evolution of EDM.

Photo by Lilian Cai

The festival is based in Chicago, though many revelers are totally unaware of the city’s history in dance music. During the late 1970s and early ’80s, artists within the Chicago underground were developing house (Frankie Knuckles/Derrick Carter), acid (Phuture), techno (Derrick May), and even the predecessor of deep house (Larry Heard). During this same period of time, MDMA (“molly”, “ecstasy”, “x”, “Adam”) was moving from labs– University of California, Berkeley professor Alexander Shulgin, along with some of his colleagues, famously took the drug in low quantities for recreational use– into trendy nightclubs and eventually into the rave culture. So, as many journalists and fans point out, drug culture and electronic dance music have very much developed concurrently.

What this new generation doesn’t know is that America has already cracked down once on the dance music community because of this belief. Despite what many consider a relatively small number of deaths when compared to the total number of yearly EDM event attendees and comparisons to the the drug culture of other genres (think drunk driving and country, weed and reggae, heroin and grunge), there is historical evidence that the government frowns on club culture. Beginning in the 1990s, officials began prosecuting rave promoters under vague crack-house laws. By 2002, Congress was attempting to outright ban all raves and dance music events on the basis that club owners and promoters knowingly allowed illegal drug activity on their premises. Interestingly, language from a 2002 USA Today article reads almost identically to those currently being published: “Ravers say the scene is still all about the music. But a rising number of critics say it’s also about rampant drug use, mostly involving the illegal stimulant Ecstasy.

The critics accuse party organizers of looking the other way as dealers peddle pills and stoned kids trash the neighborhoods where raves are held.” Treatable overdoses are mentioned as an issue, but there is little mention of death or sexual molestations, two issues which have surfaced within the new EDM scene.

 

Despite the community’s ideal philosophy of “PLUR” (Peace, Love, Unity, and Respect), EDM in the 21st century has become more like “SEEP” (Selfishness, Ego, Escape, Prophet), or as Dillon Francis so plainly shared with his young fanbase, “IDGAFOS (I Don’t Give A Fuck Or Shit)”.

Fantasy has been an enduring part of EDM, but millennials take it to new heights. Imaginative costumes, bright colors, and kandi have been around for 30 years; the new school takes them to extremes. During the process of transforming from co-ed to raver baby, it’s easy to lose one’s sense of self. Jeffrey Russ and Olivia Rotondo were by all accounts great people, but who they chose to be at Electric Zoo last Saturday might have been someone totally different than the person their parents and even best of friends knew. Like spring break, these festivals are an opportunity for youths to be someone else. For three days, they aren’t accounting students, frat boys, prom princesses, or class nerds; they can become any character of their own choosing.

This identity swap is often followed by a general disregard for safety precautions. I, for one, have partaken and seen many educated friends (both male and female) engage in risky drug behavior and sexual promiscuity. So, while MDMA might be the reported cause of these deaths, without at least some official blood work, it’s hard to know for certain. Just like Lollapalooza has cashed in on the rise of EDM, so have shady drug dealers. The sense of camaraderie that existed in EDM a few years ago has been largely eliminated by greed. In order to make a quick profit, dealers will be advertising “molly” but actually sell research chemicals like 2C-B or 25I-NBOMe, or simply cut the pure MDMA with cheaper amphetamine substitutes or other far more dangerous substances.

That bag of pills I spotted during Lolla 2011 wasn’t being sold by someone villainous; it was being toted by a security guard who could very well have confiscated them from numerous individuals. This security guard wasn’t there to ensure people were taking safe drugs or properly enjoying the experience; he just found a quick way to make a lot of money off of the crowd. While more educated revelers might head here to stay up-to-date on the legitimacy of pills and powders or obtain a bunk kit to test their drugs, young adults YOLO-ing it up might not have the slightest idea that someone might try to sell them dirty drugs– a lapse of judgement that probably wouldn’t happen in a different atmosphere.

Furthermore, what has happened to the much-needed festival buddy? Anyone who has been to a festival has probably seen lone, passed-out party-goers. It is quite rare for a person to attend a festival or rave alone, and yet somehow, in his or her time of need, the person’s friends are often nowhere to be seen. If the community is still about respect and unity, we shouldn’t leave our friends passed out in order to continue our own out-of-body experiences. Simple companionship can help speed transport to authorities in case of possible overdose and greatly alleviate ongoing problems with sexual molestation.

Many DJs and producers themselves have now grown weary of the excess and the negative publicity that’s being directed at their art. Back in 2011, following an MDMA-related death of a 15-year-old female during the final year of EDC Los Angeles, superstars like A-Trak, Kaskade, Z-Trip, and Tommie Sunshine helped out with a PSA addressing MDMA and how to safely enjoy the drug. Taking a similar approach to that of precautionary sexual education, leaders within the club community know revelers won’t remain celibate from MDMA, so they must be offered insights into safeguarding themselves from the negative aspects of the drug.

Since the tragedy at EZoo, even more artists have shared their thoughts about drug use. On August 31st, Bassnectar took to Facebook to share insights to his 1.2 million followers: “No need to overdue it or get sloppy or reckless with your nervous system, maybe try taking half as much, and letting life’s natural magic work its charms or maybe try a night off and see if you can have just as much fun without getting high. Also I think it’s fun to spend time lookin out for other people so if everyone out there takes a few moments out of their evening to doing something sweet for someone else, everyone is better off. Drugs are a tricky topic, but remember your health and safety is in your hands, so make good decisions.” The message seemed to have a ripple effect through the bass-community, with Brillz recently sharing his own personal story about sobriety. These stories, along with many others from Tommie Sunshine and Proper Villains, won’t immediately curb the prevailing drug use at events, but hopefully it can compete against the messages broadcasted so loudly by the likes of Madonna, UZ x Salva (“Molly and OJ”), and Cedric Gervais (“Molly”).

It’s easy to point the finger at artists for touting the joys of MDMA, but artists have long been writing songs about drug use. However, we must look even further up the ladder to better understand why the EDM culture is now killing youth. Never before in dance music have such large companies sought to profit from the genre. Instead of local promoters bringing in friends for thousand-person raves or larger all-night massives, corporations like C3, Live Nation, and SFX are all marketing the culture on a much larger scale to pull in big budget sponsorships. As SFX goes public, and in order for Live Nation to improve their own financial performance, public companies rely on the EDM base to continue growing, and as artists, fans, and promoters will agree, the growth potential is in the sub-21 demographic. As such, talent buyers that formerly booked 21+ shows are now bringing in EDM talent to play to 18+ and even all ages sets.

When looking at festival deaths, vandalism, and sexual assaults contributed to MDMA, it’s true that most have been attributed to those over 21. While not to be callous, this fact has kept much of the negative publicity surrounding EDM from hitting mainstream media. Before this week, the national media paid little attention to overdoses and deaths during Camp Bisco and following EDC Vegas. One major factor: they were all over 21. But, when these tragedies strike those under 21, broader pop culture turns their heads. Like the loss of the 15-year-old that forced EDC out of Los Angeles, the deaths of 20-year-old Rotondo, and sexual molestation of a 16-year-old during EZoo could very well mean the end of that festival as well.

 

As more minors are swept into the EDM culture, a perfect storm of negative PR has approached the horizon. Solutions to protect festivals and events from further tragedy and scrutiny won’t be easy, but the discussion must be had. Judging from conversations across media and the blogosphere, there are four frontrunners: better security, more accessible hydration, augmented regulation of MDMA, and implementing age restrictions. Although the TSA already thinks their presence can deter illicit drug use, they’re simply wrong. Without getting into specifics, it’s extremely easy to traffic powdered MDMA into any venue. Better, and less costly, access to water is also a quick and relatively inexpensive approach to ensuring revelers don’t find themselves so easily dehydrated and needing emergency help. Water is key, but it doesn’t protect anyone from bad drugs.

The two other solutions aren’t so easy. After noticing unsettling trends in British Columbia clubs, the region’s health chief recommended that MDMA be regulated and sold like alcohol. Not only would this allow for ravers to purchase clean drugs, but it would also make testing kits more readily available for safety purposes. Having these types of kits available for free at US events would undoubtedly help alleviate overdoses, but the States’ taboo on drugs remains far too overwhelming for such actions to take place. And although TomorrowWorld has taken the pro-active risk of limiting attendance to those 21+, pressuring similar events to do so won’t be so easy.

Nonetheless, that approach could serve well as a blockade against new policies regulating the culture or securing permission to host events on publicly owned property. It’s not like that policy will keep young adults from attending underground raves or trying MDMA at a younger age, but hopefully by the time they attend these more visible festivals they will have developed their whit about purchasing and partying on stimulants.

There’s a reason the government has regulated how alcohol and tobacco companies market their goods to minors: They realize that marketing agencies know how to sell a lifestyle to an impressionable demographic. By better regulating themselves, festivals can deter that need for increased government interference, eradicate the vultures praying on unsuspecting ravers, and create a better experience for those 21+ whom have grown disenchanted of watching young teens fall all over one another. This will infuriate those under 21 and greatly cut into short-term profits, but if people are actually interested in the music and the scene’s long-term sustainability, they shouldn’t mind waiting a few years to thoroughly enjoy the experience. If no actions are taken and more minors die during upcoming festival seasons, SFX and Live Nation might find themselves spending a lot of money to safeguard events from the same problems that burst the first dance music bubble a
generation ago.

Until a solution arises, for those of us old enough to actually remember “PLUR”, let’s look after new entrants into the family. Instead of turning our backs on the pookie-heads in too much glitter pushing toward the front, how about we try to educate them on the dangers of dirty molly, help them stay hydrated, demonstrate how to use a testing kit, and assist security guards in keeping shady drug peddlers away? A change is coming, and the EDM community — and not angry house moms and politicians — should be leading the renaissance. It’s true that we can’t protect 100% of society against poor decisions, but we can help begin to break the potentially fatal handcuffs of ignorance.

(http://consequenceofsound.net/2013/09/why-mdma-is-destroying-edm/)