Los Angeles Coliseum Hosts Dangerous Raves
There are raves, and then there are RAVES. When we think of raves, we typically think of a house party with minimal lighting, loud, pulsing music, psychedelic colors, and some mind-altering substances.
In Los Angeles, the land of excess and a complete lack of ability to moderate, the concept of “rave” has been taken to a whole new level in the form of the Electric Daisy Carnival. Touted by organizers as the biggest dance party in North America, the Carnival is a sight to behold.
The Electric Daisy Carnival is a music festival centered around five stages that showcase dance music acts. In addition to the live music, the festival also offers carnival rides and a vendor village where partygoers can purchase alcohol (beer and mixed drinks), food, souvenirs and other merchandise such as clothes, jewelry, compact discs (CD’s), cassette tapes, and vinyl records. Those who attend the Electric Daisy Festival must be at least sixteen years old and tickets sell from $75 for one day to $149 for two. For those wishing to drink alcohol, wristbands are available upon showing of a proper ID. The Electric Daisy Carnival is also held each year in San Francisco and Puerto Rico.
This year’s Electric Daisy Carnival, the 14th annual, was held on June 25th and 26th at the LA Coliseum and Exposition Park and featured musical acts Will.I.Am and Moby. Participants in the festival numbered 185,000 over the course of two days. The doors of the festival were open from 2pm to 2am each day.
Although concert promoters refer to the event as a music “festival,” what often goes on at the Carnival pushes it closer into the “rave” category. During this year’s festival, huge numbers of teenagers and young adults were rushed to area emergency rooms due to drug intoxication. The numbers were so alarming that emergency room doctors in the LA area have called for a ban on Coliseum raves. After the dust settled, two teens were in ICU at the California Hospital Medical Center, including one minor. A 15-year-old girl died after going into respiratory arrest and suffering multiple organ failure. This girl was under the supposed age limit of 16 for the party. Another comatose minor, who had inadvertently ingested drugs while drinking from someone else’s water bottle, was taken to Good Samaritan Hospital; he finally woke after an eight-hour coma.
Authorities estimate that over one hundred and twenty people were rushed from the rave at the Coliseum to area hospitals. This number excludes people who ended up in the ER under their own steam, or were delivered there by friends. Los Angeles County emergency services administrators say that they now prepare for raves held at the Coliseum the same way they would prepare for a multi-casualty incident, such as the recent Metrolink crash in Chatsworth that killed twenty-five people and wounded an additional one hundred fifty.
It’s not just the fact that dangerous raves exist that alarm medical professionals, however. Many doctors are expressing outrage that the dangerous parties are being held on government property – the LA Coliseum is owned by the state of California and is run by a commission consisting of representatives from state, county and local governments. Because the Coliseum does not rely on taxpayer money, it must generate revenue in order to keep its doors open. A rave like the Electric Daisy Carnival generates over six figures for Coliseum coffers in just one weekend. One doctor went so far as to call the Carnival a “government-encouraged drug-fest.” In its defense, one Coliseum administrator noted that police were on hand to arrest those who were in possession of drugs or who were actively selling drugs. He also noted that, with 185,000 people in attendance, incidents were bound to occur.
The Electric Daisy Carnival is not the only California rave that can be hazardous to the health of participants. Close to twenty people overdosed while attending the New Year’s Eve rave at the LA Sports Arena. The Arena is in the same complex as the LA Coliseum.
In San Francisco, two men died from drug overdoses at a rave at the Cow Palace over Memorial Day weekend.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2010/06/er-doctors-call-for-end-to-raves-at-la-coliseum-after-scores-fall-ill-most-from-drug-use.html
