Can Congress Kill the Rave?

Aug. 16, 2002 -- Generational showdowns abound in music history. In the Prohibition era, flappers and free-flowing jazz and booze irked authorities. Decades later, buttoned-down elders condemned Woodstock as just a hippie drug fest.

Now, politicians are targeting raves, the all-night electronic music and dance marathons held anywhere from nightclubs to open fields — also known these days as "massives," or "desert parties." Young devotees of rave culture claim that no musical genre in recent memory has been so endangered by a misunderstanding political and ruling class.

If a proposal working its way through the U.S. Congress becomes law, raves could become extinct, they say, or at least driven far underground. Proponents of the bill say they're not specifically targeting rave parties or dance music but so-called "club drugs" such as Ecstasy, Rohypnol and GHB, which they say permeate rave culture.

The RAVE Act, which stands for "Reducing Americans' Vulnerability to Ecstasy," expands the federal "crack-house" statute, designed to prosecute anyone whose buildings are used as drug havens, to include party promoters. Under the Senate bill, anyone involved with the planning of a rave who knows drugs are used, exchanged or made there could face criminal charges and be subject to a civil penalty of $250,000 or two times the gross receipts derived from each violation.

The legislation's broad language may appear to encompass any nightclub or other venue where drugs may be present, but the act's title suggests that the real targets here are raves.

"This gives prosecutors a common-sense tool to go after the worst kind of promoters, those who seek to profit from drug use by young people," said Chip Unruh, a spokesman for Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del., who sponsored the legislation. "A lot of these folks advertise the parties as alcohol-free for parents then through a wink and a nod or through covert flyers let [young people] know drug use will be permitted there."

A similar bill in the U.S. House of Representatives seeks to hold "promoters of drug-oriented entertainment" liable for hosting events at which drug use is widespread.

Do Glow Sticks and Pacifiers Promote 'E'?

Federal drug enforcement authorities have been focusing their efforts more in recent years on the increasingly popular Ecstasy — the street name for MDMA, or 3, 4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine, reputed to bring euphoric highs to users.

According to the Drug Abuse Warning Network, thousands of teenagers are treated for overdoses and Ecstasy-related health problems in emergency rooms each year. Ecstasy mentions in emergency visits grew 1,040 percent between 1994 and 1999, the group said.

RAVE Act supporters say that tens of thousands of young people are initiated into the drug culture every year at raves. Some posters for raves prominently feature pictures of Ecstasy pills or the letter "E," they say, which is slang for Ecstasy. Some rave promoters sell items believed to enhance the effects of drugs, such as neon glow sticks, massage oils, menthol nasal inhalers, and pacifiers, which combat the involuntary teeth-clenching associated with Ecstasy, the legislation reads.

The RAVE Act language also accuses some rave promoters of exploiting young drug users by charging exorbitant prices for bottled water and entrance fees to "chill-out" rooms when they know Ecstasy raises body temperatures and causes thirst.

"It's certainly clear from anecdotal evidence that the use of Ecstasy really took off and was embraced by a number of people in the rave scene," said Howard Simon, spokesman for the Partnership for a Drug-Free America, which supports the RAVE Act. "The reason why something usually becomes a stereotype is because something is so true at first."

The push for new legislation comes as law enforcement authorities have had mixed results going after promoters with laws already on the books. Last year, federal prosecutors arrested the owners of two dance clubs, Club La Vela in Tallahassee, Fla., and the State Palace Theater in New Orleans, under the crack-house law.

A jury cleared the Tallahassee club owners, and the New Orleans owners copped a plea but later won on appeal.

Ravers: You Say Drug Toys, We Say Pure Fun

Allegations about the pervasiveness of drugs at raves are based on anecdotal evidence only, ravers counter, since statistics cannot really prove that Ecstasy is more prevalent at raves than anywhere else young people congregate.

While some ravers may take drugs, illegal substances are no more central to rave culture than any other music scene or even any college campus, they say. Those who identify with rave culture say the federal government and many drug prevention organizations have the rave ethos — and even some rave practices — all wrong.

"[The RAVE Act] is using a prejudice against youth to then broaden the war on drugs without any sound information about what is happening at these events," said Tim Santamour, executive director of Dance Safe, a "harm reduction" group that promotes safe party practices.

Rave-goers say there are less sinister explanations for some of the party traditions cited in the federal legislation. Some items described as drug paraphernalia, such as the pacifiers, are just plain entertainment, they say.

"Chill-out" rooms are commonly used to provide a haven from the loud music and the heat of the dance floor, they say. And expensive bottled water can be found at most sports stadiums and mainstream concerts, they add, not just at raves.

"These people are describing every cultural item in this scene as being nefarious including water," said Gary Blitz, director of the Electronic Music Defense Foundation in Orange County, Calif. "That would be really evil if there were a group of people knowing kids need water and drawing them in and then ripping them off for the water. The facts simply aren't there to support it."

Raves Could Go Back Underground

If critics really understood the culture they were attacking, they would recognize a way of life that promotes healthy values, ravers say. Over the years, for example, the rave culture has adopted the slogan "PLUR," which stands for peace, love, unity and respect.

"Society's been dealing with hate crimes, drive-bys and gangs and prejudice, and the government spent zillions of dollars in programs to fix this and fix that. Here's a group of people, a youth movement, whose ideals are you accept everyone," Blitz said.

Simon, of the Partnership for a Drug-Free America, says if the rave spirit does not depend on drugs, then ravers should not oppose the legislation intended to rid their parties of Ecstasy and other substances.

"Anybody who believes in what the rave community originally stood for should not have a problem with that," he said.

But ravers, disc jockeys and electronic music fans worry that legitimate club owners and venue managers will be unwilling to risk hosting a rave, or any dance party resembling a rave, if the legislation is passed.

Some predict that the RAVE Act would just drive the rave scene underground, essentially where it came from 20 years ago, to remote fields, abandoned factories and other fringe locations where conditions could get more dangerous for ravers.

As it is, many rave organizers now pay off-duty police officers to patrol the venue, or employ security guards who are trained in emergency medical services. Mainstream venues such as nightclubs must comply with fire codes. But these safeguards would not exist at "underground" locations.

RAVE Act supporters say that's no reason to allow drug-condoning parties to continue. "We think it is more dangerous to go somewhere where drug use is welcomed rather than discouraged," Simon said.

Musical Genocide?

Beyond the danger to ravers' health, some electronic music fans also say the legislation's loose language threatens the music itself, which is glued together by the clubs and other venues that host raves. Aside from a handful of commercially-successful electronic musicians, such as Moby, whose songs serve as jingles for a variety of television advertisements, the electronic music genre has produced few mainstream stars. Mainstream radio stations and major record labels largely have not warmed to the style.

If concert promoters and club owners shy away from raves, then, electronic music will essentially lose its main stage — or at least will have to build a new one, ravers say.

"It's musical genocide," said Amanda Huie, director of marketing for Buzzlife Productions in Washington, D.C. "It's so obviously targeting a specific kind of music. That's clearly unconstitutional."

Huie, who collected 10,000 signatures for a petition opposing the bill in less than a week, said she and her colleagues, which include the American Civil Liberties Union and an auditorium managers' association, do not want to defeat the bill but reform it.

"We want to make it specific so it targets criminals," she said, "No matter how hard you search, to keep drugs out of venues is almost impossible. The federal government can't even keep drugs out of prisons," she said.

But Unruh, Biden's spokesman, says legislators have no intention of endangering electronic music — only the drugs so often associated with it.

"We set the bar very high," he said. "Legitimate promoters of any type of music have nothing to fear from our bill."

Legislation on raves is due to be considered by Congress this fall.