My boyfriend, David Bartley, and I at Ultra Miami in 2016. Raves are pretty much the only opportunity I get to have pink eyebrows.

I'd like to start this piece by admitting: A LOT of people at raves do drugs while they are there. It's very common to see a joint passed around a group of friends or to hear the infamous phrase, "Where's Molly?"

Now that that has been said, I have also been at rock concerts and seen cocaine—kept in a ziplock bag and snorted through a straw. Not classy. I went to Van's Warped Tour when I was 14, and smelled the familiar musky scent of weed. My friend's older brother tried ecstasy at Redneck Yacht Club.

My point here is that drugs happen at most large events, and they have been for years. Yet, it seems lately that the heat has been focused on the EDM scene.

EDM has been around since disco in the 70's. Though the EDM scene that we—or I—know and love today really started in the 90's with underground raves and warehouse parties. In fact, my favorite festival of all, Insomniac's Electric Daisy Carnival started as a warehouse party in 1996. In the last few years, the rave scene has boomed. At EDC Las Vegas, there are seven main stages, each of which fills with headliners throughout the duration of the festival. These events get packed.

Among the thousands of ravers that roam the grounds of these festivals, I will admit, there are plenty of them with dilated pupils and shakey palms ... But there are also so many there that truly love the music and the scene, sans drugs. I am one of those ravers.

It drives me up a wall when I tell someone that I'm going to a rave and they give me that look. That same disapproving, disappointed look that one would give as if I were heating heroin on a spoon. Or worse, the question, "Don't people do a bunch of drugs at those things?" Now of course, this question usually comes along with that same look that I previously mentioned.

The stigma attached to raves leaves non-ravers thinking that it’s more about doing drugs than anything else. But if you are, like myself, a “sober” raver than you know that it’s about so much more.

There is a word, an acronym really, tossed around in the rave community: PLUR. PLUR stands for peace, love, unity and respect. The term is often associated with Kandi trading. Kandis are bracelets—usually made up of pony beads—that are handmade by ravers to be traded with others. Trading Kandi is a raver’s way of spreading PLUR vibes to other ravers. Here is a video showing the process:

Kandi, and Kandi-trading, is merely one example of the good, loving things that happen at raves; no drugs needed.

I always laugh with my friends, saying that at a rave, if you bump into someone - even if it is 110% your fault - you can almost guarantee that they will apologize to you. You see, the point I'm trying to make is that true raver don't come to do drugs, they come to make friends, to make memories and to have the time of their lives.

My first rave was EDC Orlando in 2013. This is where I found out about hooping for the first time, made so many friends and truly felt that I belonged.

Justin Schumman, as the Scare Crow, and me as Dorothy at my first EDC when we spotted this guy's kitty mask. I always make Justin look at cat pictures ... so this only seemed fitting.

Halloween 2016, at the Rabbit Hole in Naples. Lee Schrock, Tamara Von Tol, David Bartley and yours truly.