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)