RAVE Act Passes and Other E-Musings

The goddamn RAVE Act passed this past April 10th. It amends some language in the Controlled Susbstances Act, and was a rider to the ""AMBER Alert" bill":http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-amber11.html, which aims to prevent child abduction (and which one of you Nazi Commies would vote against the safety of our children?). Folks are already working on undermining the act’s potentially harmful language, the most dangerous of which holds the promoters of music events (“raves” or otherwise) responsible for the drug-related actions of their patrons.

So, if I throw a party and people use drugs and get caught there, I’m looking a serious fines and potential jail time. Not a problem for your average Joe, I suppose, but I have many happy memories of the DC/Baltimore rave scene, and I wouldn’t invite the aforementioned legal troubles on the folks who stuck their necks out to promote those evenings of electronic music. Music and drugs always seem to show up at the same spots, but rarely do they go home together; that is to say, there may be a culture of ecstasy (MDMA) use at raves, but the people who enjoy rave music enough to throw these parties are more interested in encouraging the music than the substance abuse. I don’t like people doing drugs at raves, but I also don’t see how making promoters liable for what people already do on the proverbial “down low,” regardless of the security and police presence you already see at parties, is going to prevent substance abuse.

But my views, and the similar views of drug policy critics, are pretty moot in the face of an overwhelming government campaign against MDMA. Just the other day I saw a very slick anti-drug advert depicting, with elegant cuts and serious music, a coroner’s report for a girl we are told died with nothing but MDMA in her system. Some experts think that, barring excessive use, “the case for so-called MDMA neurotoxicity is seriously flawed.” Others recognize that while a MDMA clearly isn’t “safe,” deaths attributed to it often involve other substances. There aren’t exactly scores of deaths attributed to MDMA.

So why are the tax dollars being spent to fight MDMA, particularly when it’s not ruining neighborhoods and communities like crack and heroin? My guess is that the RAVE Act has its roots in some DEA statistics on the sheer dollar amount of ecstasy being trafficked in the United States. Now that it’s become a big money drug it’s caught the attention of the powers that be, regardless of whether not it’s a real danger. If anyone out there knows why E is under fire, do tell. If you need me, I’ll be not throwing raves. (Fantastic, BoingBoing-esque link, by the way: "MDMA info at “Neuroscience for Kids”“:http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/mdma.html. The graphics alone are priceless. Also note the Apple logo pill at the top of this DEA briefing.)”