Experimenting with drugs can be both innocent and fatal waters to dip into, and testing these waters has become a commonality in the EDM festival scene. It is no question that deaths associated with controlled substances like MDMA at EDM festivals has escalated. However, electronic dance music is hardly the instigator for drug use and EDM festivals do not harbor a place for drug users.
EDM music and festivals have been portrayed in the media as being an outlet in which provides partygoers an escape from the real world through music and drug use. This is hardly the intent of what these gatherings are actually for.
While MDMA may be used at music festivals, it is surely not the only place it is being used, and it does not give the excuse to deem these types of festivals a place for drug use. Making this claim is ignorant, dangerous, and neglectful and it does little to nothing to change or contain what is claimed to be taking the music festival scene by storm.
Media has developed a tendency to report about MDMA overdoses at EDM festivals in which many of the cases aren’t entirely accurate. Studies have supported that it is actually very difficult to overdose on MDMA. While in some cases MDMA may have been an associated factor in a cause of death, it is hardly the sole culprit responsible for taking innocent lives. This dangerous falsehood has taken the music scene by storm and it needs to be put to rest.
If MDMA is not the main cause of death at EDM festivals, then what is? What has also been responsible for fatalities at these events has been supported to be reliant on environmental causes and the neglect of personal health. Some common factors include heat stroke and exhaustion, and dehydration.
Many festival-goers can vouch that enduring the summer heat can be an exhausting and powerful influence. Having personally experienced the depleting implications the sun has, it comes at no surprise to hear that one of the common cause of medical emergencies and casualties is heatstroke. While MDMA may or may not be involved, the sun is a powerful and harmful mechanism of its own and it has been responsible for causing medical emergencies and fatalities.
It is more than easy to get swept up into the scene of a festival, that forgetting to drinking water can be as simple as cutting loose and enjoy the festivities. With a combination of the heat and vigorous activities like dancing, it is important to listen to your body and attend to what it needs. Staying hydrated is key.
Ironically however, over hydrating can be harmful and detrimental. MDMA actually causes water retention, which can lead to medical emergencies and fatalities. There have been numerous cases where a person has died after consuming too much water while on MDMA.
With the power of free will, people make their own decisions. If one has the desire to do something, he or she is going to do it. For example choosing to use drugs like MDMA. Drug use can be inevitable, making the fight to eliminate drug use challenging. If drug use can be inevitable, than it is arguable that if people chose to use drugs at music festivals they need to be provided with a safe environment with aiding resources.
For most EDM festivals, this is not their first time around the block. Festival production teams are aware of implications associated with putting on music events and they work to ensure that all attendees have a safe and memorable experience. Free and easily accessible water and electrolyte stations, medical tents and support stations are made available throughout the festival grounds. These precautions are with the intent to eliminate heatstroke, dehydration and medical emergencies, regardless if people may or may not be using drugs.
The misconception should not be made that music festivals are allowing illegal drug use, or that they are diminishing the importance in the fight to eliminate drug use. It is imperative to understanding that if drug use may happen at these types of event, protecting and ensuring that people do not die is just as crucial and important as the battle to eliminate drug use.
When speaking about drugs in relation to music festivals, there is one thing that needs to be clarified. Deaths and drug overdoses are rare instances. While the media has portrayed the horrific and paining fatalities at music festivals to be commonalties, they are seldom instances. Declaring these festivals dangerous places based on infrequent occurrences is an imprecise and misinformed presumption to make.
With the summer season quickly approaching, all experienced festival-goers and first timers are in for a treat, as the festival season is thrown into full swing. While drug use at these music festivals may occur, it is not what defines these gatherings. Dabbling in drugs is a personal choice and if it must define anything it should be a persons character.
We can continue to blame drugs for fatalities but it does nothing to further our understanding or prevent what goes on at these types events. Life is fragile and experimenting with drugs is a risk that should not be diminished or forgotten.
As the music festival scene continues to flourish, hopes are that the stereotypes unwillingly given to these types of events are replaced with what they really promote: community, equality, liberation, creativity expression and beyond.
