As we’ve touched upon so many times here at EDMTunes.com, the association of drug use with electronic dance music is impossible to ignore. While true fans recognize that there is so much more to EDM than the unfortunate drug overdoses and arrests, we see time and time again that it is those stories that are publicized and that define the genre.
It seems that the bad rap of drugs like MDMA and ecstasy has finally started to push it’s impression onto festival audiences. An article published in The Irish Examiner surveyed concertgoers on their attitudes towards drug use at various dance events. The Ticketmaster report found that 40% of attendees find drug use at events “off-putting”, with only 5% of surveyors feeling that drug use is an integral part of the overall experience. It’s interesting to see that it is only a small portion of participants that believe taking rave drugs is vital to their concert experience, while such a large group are adverse to the idea. The could be due to the stigmatization and the negative publicity it’s received in light of recent deaths at TomorrowWorld and EDC this past year.
Whatever the root cause of this sentiment may be, ultimately drug use will always be present at these events. While outright bans and high-level security may deter most concertgoers from using, it seems the best thing these event promoters can do is to inform attendees of the risks associated with drugs like MDMA and ecstasy while teaching them to recognize when someone may need to seek medical attention. Whether or not you choose to use, it’s important to recognize the signs and symptoms of a potential drug overdose; at the end of the day, it could mean the difference between life and death.
Source: The Irish Examiner
