The EDM Drug Culture: Problem or Normality? When thinking about the dance music scene, what does one think of? Hard basslines and kicks, loud music, DJs, bright lights, big venues, and the big one, the drugs. Whether you go back twenty years or look forward into the future twenty years, MDMA and various other drugs will always be prevalent in this culture. However, ecstasy is only as dangerous as you make it.
House, Acid Techno, and Deep House were all being created around the same time MDMA was concocted in labs, in the time frame from the sixties to the eighties (Leggia). Ecstasy first appeared in the New York scene in the late eighties and early nineties. The DEA didn’t know much about it, so they just shrugged it off until finding out …show more content…
Senator Patrick Leahy stated that he was worried it gave the Drug Enforcement Agency too much power with such a broad statement. “[The DEA] are now using the 'Crack House Statute' to pursue business owners who take serious precautions to avoid drug use at their events” (Holland, Paoletta). ACLU chief drug-policy litigator Graham Boyd added to the criticism by saying, “The government is trying to get at what it sees as a social ill, Ecstasy, by going after an expressive speech, which is the music” (Eliscu).
This had a tremendously detrimental effect on DJs and producers alike. In fear of prosecution, this lead to the loss of jobs for DJs because promoters lessened the amount of electronic dance music shows at their venues to avoid the fines. In Chicago, promoters and club owners could be fined up to 10,000 dollars for organizing an unlicensed rave (Eliscu).
Most recently, and most contradicting from the early 2000s legal rulings, the Drug Enforcement Agency has allowed the use of MDMA in clinical sessions. The clinical study will test the safety and usefulness of MDMA in treating anxiety in patients with life-threatening ailments (Wing). Since 1985, methylenedioxyphenethylamine has been classified by the DEA as a Schedule I drug. This development suggests that the DEA could bring the drug down to a Schedule III drug, which many activists have been lobbying for since 2002, therefore permitting MDMA use permanently within a clinical
House, Acid Techno, and Deep House were all being created around the same time MDMA was concocted in labs, in the time frame from the sixties to the eighties (Leggia). Ecstasy first appeared in the New York scene in the late eighties and early nineties. The DEA didn’t know much about it, so they just shrugged it off until finding out …show more content…
Senator Patrick Leahy stated that he was worried it gave the Drug Enforcement Agency too much power with such a broad statement. “[The DEA] are now using the 'Crack House Statute' to pursue business owners who take serious precautions to avoid drug use at their events” (Holland, Paoletta). ACLU chief drug-policy litigator Graham Boyd added to the criticism by saying, “The government is trying to get at what it sees as a social ill, Ecstasy, by going after an expressive speech, which is the music” (Eliscu).
This had a tremendously detrimental effect on DJs and producers alike. In fear of prosecution, this lead to the loss of jobs for DJs because promoters lessened the amount of electronic dance music shows at their venues to avoid the fines. In Chicago, promoters and club owners could be fined up to 10,000 dollars for organizing an unlicensed rave (Eliscu).
Most recently, and most contradicting from the early 2000s legal rulings, the Drug Enforcement Agency has allowed the use of MDMA in clinical sessions. The clinical study will test the safety and usefulness of MDMA in treating anxiety in patients with life-threatening ailments (Wing). Since 1985, methylenedioxyphenethylamine has been classified by the DEA as a Schedule I drug. This development suggests that the DEA could bring the drug down to a Schedule III drug, which many activists have been lobbying for since 2002, therefore permitting MDMA use permanently within a clinical