Dresner: Discouraging EDM festival attendance could prevent Ecstasy deaths

Her eyes rolled back in her head as her friends did their best to support her dead weight. If it weren’t for the location, a club on the beach in Barcelona, I might have mistaken her seizing for an exorcism, the pain on her face easily recognizable as the strobe lights flashed violently.

I’ve seen people horribly intoxicated before, but this was different. Every shake of her body made my heart beat faster. She convulsed a minute longer, then went limp, her body seemingly exhausted from this unexpected action. It was just after midnight on an early Saturday morning in Spain, and I had just watched someone overdose on Ecstasy.

Unfortunately, writing a column discouraging people from excessive drug or alcohol use wouldn’t do much to change the culture that electronic dance music has created. So, instead, I am writing a column to discourage people from attending these events, from fueling a movement that has already caused suffering and will inevitably cause more if we don’t take a stand now.

My first experience with house music or EDM came three years ago when my buddy played Avicii’s “Seek Bromance” music video for me on YouTube. Today, that video has more than 27 million views, consistent with the explosion in EDM’s popularity.

This “movement,” however, unlike other social movements in American history, was not born out of imperfections in society, but instead, out of excessive drug and alcohol use. As more horror stories emerge every week surrounding the EDM movement my only question has become, when will it end?

According to thedea.org, there were 76 deaths from Ecstasy overdose in 2001, up from a single death in 1994. Although statistics from more recent years were unavailable, it can be assumed that these numbers have increased.

Ecstasy, which is the pill form of MDMA, affects the body by increasing heart rate and blood pressure, as well as interfering with the body’s ability to regulate its temperature. It puts a person at risk for dehydration, which, combined with the inability to keep the body cool, can result in fatal overheating and organ failure. Using large amounts of Ecstasy at a time can result in seizures and abnormal heart rhythm. Long term effects of Ecstasy use can include issues with memory and learning.  

This year, over Labor Day weekend, the fourth annual Electric Zoo Music Festival took place in New York City. The EDM event, which began in 2009, saw attendance numbers around 100,000 people, and ticket prices soared to $300 for the three-day festival. Unfortunately, tragedy struck on the second day as two deaths from MDMA overdoses caused the cancellation of the third day. The victims were a 23-year-old man and a 19-year-old woman.

While I can’t say I never bought into the movement, as I have been to DayGlow and an Avicii concert while at Pitt, the deaths over the summer and my experience in Barcelona have soured me to the music, the culture and the environment as a whole.

In the ‘80s there was pop music and cocaine. In the ‘90s there was rap music and marijuana. Today it’s electronic music and MDMA, better known by its street name “Molly.” Each music culture has come and gone, but the arrival of festivals such as Electric Zoo, Electric Daisy Carnival and TomorrowWorld suggests that the EDM culture only seems to have gained strength in the United States, especially among college students.

But what is the culture?

If the two deaths from drug overdoses don’t answer this question clearly enough, then a quick search of “Girl Tree Dancing” on YouTube will make it quite obvious — the video shows a college-aged girl getting intimate with a very precocious, good-looking and charming tree.   

Some might argue that the EDM culture is all about the music. The music allows people to dress in ridiculous attire, which is only ever acceptable at these events. The music creates an environment most would describe as carefree and loving. But at the heart of it all is the excess — the excess of drugs and the excess of alcohol. Anyone who has ever been to an EDM event can attest to the fact that the abuse of drugs and alcohol is omnipresent and extremely frightening, and every minute it seems as though someone is being attended to by emergency personnel.

Is that really a culture that people should embrace?

As college students we are at the forefront of this movement, and I believe it is about time we take control of it. It’s not to save ourselves or to save our friends, but it is to save the next generation. It’s to save our younger siblings and our younger cousins. With every day the EDM movement continues to grow as more people take the risks and more people suffer the consequences. You might not have known the two victims who lost their lives at Electric Zoo, but someone did. They each had a family.

Parents, siblings and friends all lost someone in their lives. But the movement hasn’t stopped, and the culture certainly hasn’t changed. In a week, DayGlow will return to Pittsburgh. Thousands will attend, most using drugs or alcohol to intensify their experience. But every person who buys a ticket gives money to this movement. They spray gasoline on an open flame. Unfortunately, there is only so much gasoline that can be sprayed before something explodes.

Two college-aged kids have already suffered from this fire. One of them could have been the girl sitting behind you in your biology lecture. The other could have been the kid in front of you at Pizza Hut, just getting lunch in the middle of his busy day. If we don’t take the necessary steps to quell this movement and eliminate this culture, who knows who could be next? Who knows whose friend it might be? Who knows whose family will be destroyed?

While some movements can be changed for the better, sometimes the best plan is elimination. The EDM movement is not worth being changed. It’s not even worth being saved. Let us, together, be responsible for preserving countless lives. Let us, together, create a better future for our friends, our families and those who don’t deserve to have their lives cut short.