Los Angeles, California is quickly gaining notoriety as a hotbed for raves and electronic music festivals. These activities are popular among many youth on the West Coast and is spreading across the nation.
The music is bumping through your body and the strobe lights are flashing and people are feeling the beats with every movement. The outfits are brightly colored, tight and outrageous, rave attendees are definitely a sight to see.
Attendees willingly spend money for tickets, outfits and drugs to get the best experience possible out of the rave. Drug use, especially the use of ecstasy, goes hand-in-hand with rave experiences.
Ecstasy tablets with different designs
“Every rave I have ever been to, the majority of the people there are on some kind of drug, it’s pretty socially accepted,” said junior communications major Kayla Haigh. Many people believe that by taking a drug, they are making the music come alive and heightening their overall experience at the show.
Drug use at raves is almost inevitable and Los Angeles County believes that they have a way to combat it, even though it is seen by many as controversial. They are battling high numbers of drug overdoses and drug injuries and they believe that by educating the attendees about the effects of ecstasy, they have a chance to get these numbers down.
They see that they cannot stop the use of drugs altogether, but they believe they can decrease the numbers of incidents by handing out fliers and putting up posters that stress the dangers of ecstasy.
The County of Los Angeles’s Public Health sector has planted posters around rave venues such as the Los Angeles Coliseum and Sports Arena that state:
1. Take frequent breaks- Let your body cool and rest.
2. Stay hydrated- Sip or take small gulps of water (to help cool your body) and non- caffeinated sports- drinks like Gatorade (to replenish electrolytes). Alcohol and caffeine dehydrates the body.
3. Don’t mix- Taking ecstasy with other substances (especially alcohol and other stimulants) can increase the risks, and lead to potentially dangerous interactions.
4. Recognize overdoses- Signs include extreme headaches, nausea, confusion, blurred vision, inability to talk, racing heart, vomiting, fainting, muscle tremors, and convulsions. Seek medical help if you or your friends experience even just one sign.
5. Keep an eye on your friends- stay together.
6. Don’t drive- Ecstasy affects physical and mental functioning (like vision, reaction time and judgment).
7. Aim low (dose and frequency) - Ecstasy risks increase when large doses (stacking) and re-dosing when you start to come down.
8. Stay away- The only way to completely avoid the risks is to avoid the drug, enjoy the music and dancing instead.
9. Educate yourself and your friends- The best decision is a well-informed one.
This list is meant to decrease the accidents caused due to ecstasy use, but many believe that it is allowing people to think using this drug is acceptable when at a rave. “I think it is wrong to put up these posters at raves, it just lets the people going think it is okay to do ecstasy, which is still an illegal drug,” said junior psychology major at Pasadena City College, Scarlet Dunne.
“By putting up these posters it is basically telling people that they can do ecstasy, just as long as they don’t take too much, and that is just morally wrong,” said Dunne. Dunne has seen the effect that raves have had on the Los Angeles area and though they bring in revenue she believes the cost of human life is far more important than making money and continuing to put on these drug-fueled shows.
Over New Years a rave that hosted around 45,000 attendees in Los Angeles sent 18 patients to the hospital on ecstasy-related hospitalizations and resulted in one death. “The death of that one person out of 45,000 sounds insignificant but it could have been prevented if raves weren’t such a money maker here in the Los Angeles area,” said Dunne.
Another Los Angeles native and junior communications major, Melissa Burrows sees ecstasy use and raves in L.A. a bit differently. “I think raves are part of what makes the culture of Los Angeles; I see the posters as a step in the right direction to helping with the ecstasy overdosing issue.”
“I love the fact that L.A. is known for raves, especially since they are making their way onto the scene here more and more in Colorado, and I think the safe ecstasy use posters should be put in place at raves here,” said Burrows.
Raves are a current trend in music that are gaining popularity and it will be interesting to see if other counties, cities and states take stances on the use of illegal drugs at these events. If they follow in the shoes of L.A. County, they will also be met with controversy, but if you can’t stop them, the best way to get the ravers to listen at this point, is to inform them.
This story has a good subject matter, but it felt kind of far-removed. If this is what LA County is doing, then you should have gotten more official information on it on top of your outside research. You maybe could have related it to Colorado or even Fort Collins. It is well-wirtten, otherwise.
ReplyDeleteVery interesting idea that most people never even think about, but I think it was a little too formal or newsy if that makes any sense. It was like you were just reporting on it, and I didn't really see how it was much of a feature.
ReplyDeleteAt first I thought you were going to talk about all of the different designs on the pills and how they are signatures of the dealers, etc... That would be a little more interesting I think for a feature. Also, linking it a bit more to the Fort Collins scene would have helped.