As most people have heard, the number of drug-related deaths at music festivals has greatly grown within the last two years. As of late, with every festival there has come a tragic death, and some people have become fed up with this pattern.

Assembly woman Fiona Ma introduced legislature in California in 2010 to ban raves, and while it lasted for a short period of time, the ban was ultimately lifted and new restrictions were put into place, including things such as age minimums and more thorough searches as concert-goers enter the venue.

Sadly, though, these new restrictions haven't shown much success, as the drug-related deaths haven't reduced. This August, two more teenagers died due to drug-related incidents at Hard Summer music festival in the L.A. area, and this seems to have been the last straw for many.

Hilda Solis, the Los Angeles County Supervisor, has called for a ban on raves on the county’s public property for the time being as these new deaths are investigated.

While the Los Angeles government is calling the ban temporary, as they want to find a way to continue raves without the deaths, ER doctors claim that raves should be banned altogether. They think that these types of raves pose a threat to public health and that the only way to stop the deaths is to stop the raves.

In an interview with the L.A. Times Dr. Brian Johnston says “I have seen 16, 17, 18-year-old kids with heart attacks. You don’t see that from other events. This is a different animal.”

Regardless of your viewpoint on raves, I think that everyone will agree that the hospitalizations and deaths need to be put to an end. If you want to risk your life, that’s your choice, but don’t be that one person who ruins it for the rest of us. Be smart and safe, regardless of the choices you make, and let’s all pray that L.A. will put an end to the deaths while allowing raves to continue!