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Comment by THEE DOPE SHOW on May 14, 2011 at 1:05pm

personally raves now and then are 2 different things. before the media started coverage of them was cool. i also see the undercover cops who ruined it. the whole electro/ dubstep scene is the "in" thing right now but remember, that the experience sucks without drugs. i predict a very big raid/ bust will be happening soon. people post facebook events all the time and the C.I.A. is connected to facebook.

Comment by Stephanie South on May 13, 2011 at 1:25am

Great post Ryan. Long Beach misses you! I completely agree that teens do these club drugs at raves because they are simply just bored. Being a teen myself, I have no idea where I would wind up if it wasn't for (1) sports, (2) instant messaging on AIM, (3) social networking sites like Xanga, MySpace, and Facebook, (4) picking up hobbies/passions within the arts, and most importantly (5) a great support system of family, friends, teachers, mentors, etc. What teens need are tools to find something worthwhile to do and wrap their minds around. Many of their paths have unfortunately led to club drugs because they lack something or some things that were listed above. It is an imbalance within their lives that they need to revitalize.

 

I have never experience the rave scene in the 90's but I figure that my input would be useful in your understanding of my generation. I started going to raves in 2008 when I was 16. Personally what led me to this was attending the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival that same same year and wanting the same experience I had in the Sahara dance tent. It is pretty much equivalent to a rave. Some influence was from my older brother (now 29) who probably experienced the rave scene in the 90's. We always share music so it's of the norm for us to attend concerts and festivals together. 'Til this day, I still attend raves because I love the music and I love dancing to it. Lights are the cherry on top. Every rave I've ever gone to; I've was sober.

 

It does sadden me or sometimes actually frightens me at times to see people completely drug-induced, but I know that I'm there for a good time and that's what I will do. In addition to teens taking these club drugs because of boredom; I also believe that it can be the influence from friends. I've seen pictures of my peers at these raves with their "rave families", which I think can be a great thing because they (hopefully) take care of each other but at the same time probably only do the drugs because their friends do it. After all, we are who our friends are. It is important to have a support system, but even more crucial to have the right support system.

Comment by Jah Polo on May 12, 2011 at 6:57pm

Music and Herb Is The Healing Of The Nation. Natural Ital vibe is the way. Man made synthetic like LSD (Lusifer Son Of The Devil) don't agree with I.n.I livity. The youth of today are mislead and need more guidance. What is promoted and endorsed by society and our system is harmful to us and our environment. What is good and natural for us is illegal and fought down. The youth need culture not twisted ways of the babylon vultures. We need to Live Righteous not live evil (livevil). We need to pay more attention to our children. The youth need good examples. More love, more light...

"The youth of today man and women of tomorrow. Don't lead them astray, don't cause dem no sorrow. Hear what I say, the time is getting narrow. Make a change today don't wait on tomorrow.

 

One Love and Blessings

Jah Polo/Jah! Fellowship/Long Beach Liberators/JahJahlah Records/JahJahlah Production

Comment by ryanthelion on May 11, 2011 at 11:19pm

It's really interesting that this thing never goes away. Raves, i got into that scene in 99 during my high school years in the Bay Area where it was huge. In retrospect cuz i used to be a raver, there are a lot of factors at work here. If I analyze myself as a youth, blaming the parents i feel counter intuitive, yeah parents can attempt to monitor, but if you are a kid, you already know what works on your parents and what doesnt. It's not going to be up to the parents to completely control their kids, because a lot of "Good" kids do a lot of "Bad" things because they know how to maintain that image. 

I used to go to these things cuz i was bored, plain and simple. WHere else could a 16 year old go and see a fireworks show, listen to live house music, ride on rollercosters at night and jump in a moon bounce? seriously... Raves offer more entertainment that you are basically allowed being under 18. I don't think its that suprising that they are getting into raves when there are few alternatives. Can anyone name any all ages events in Long Beach that happen regularly at night? Ya basically everything happens at clubs and bars right? 

 

For me, it wasn't even the drugs that was the appeal, i enjoyed going out at night, meeting new people, and all in a non-judgemental atmosphere. The last thing might not seem important but yeah man, high school is full of insecurity and being a teenage asian male i had plenty to be insecure about, the raves were a welcome change. 

Then eventually the drugs came later and I got out of that atmosphere cuz i just didn't want to do drugs that often. Yes drugs are heavily used, yes they are mainly the club drugs, yeah it is bad for their bodies, why don't they think of the consequences? Because their brains are still developing and their prefrontal cortex (part of the brain that helps people think of consequences) isn't fully developed yet. Teens are impulsive, and a big part of that is biology. If the conversation revolves around "drugs are bad" then we won't get anywhere.

Yes drugs are bad, but what are the social factors i was at a rave where a 13 year old girl overdosed and died. there are real dangers shorterm and long term, but for me it was never about the drugs. It was about the social connection that is especially inhibited in High school because of the toxic and (bullsh*t) environment. What is the primary drug used at Raves? Ecstasy, if you look why and how ecstasy was produced it connects directly with what I'm saying.  "There have long been suggestions that MDMA might be useful in psychotherapy, facilitating self-examination with reduced fear.^[8][9][10] Indeed, some therapists, including Leo Zeff, Claudio Naranjo, George Greer, Joseph Downing, and Philip Wolfson, used MDMA in their practices until it was made illegal."

 

I'm not endorsing raves, I don't go to them and i don't have a desire to return to the culture. Just saying my experience was fueled because the cultures in Highschool is B.S. and i wanted something else where i fit in more. I don't regret my time as a raver, I thought it was a lot of fun, and as it came up towards the end of the 90's gang era, might have been a saver less harmful alternative. I just wish people could unite without the drugs, and people lowered their walls a little bit more. To quote Fat Joe from "Hip Hop beyond beats and Rhymes" "Why can't we all be happy in the club? everyone should be smiling and laughing, having a good time, instead we just look at each other like we're bout to get into a fight"

Comment by LB Chica on May 11, 2011 at 8:03pm

Wow you are taking me way back! lol

 

I do remember going to a couple of raves back in the day, getting there way past midnight & getting out when the sun was out or when the cops got there whichever came first lol, I was aware of drugs being used but I was way too naive back then & I was busy dancing that I did not care as long as I had a ride home.

I remember going to one rave & I was bummed out that all they were selling was water bottles, I thought it was kind of lame & spend all night drinking water, not until we ran out of there & found one of the guys in our crew all "out of it" did I realized that something else was being sold somewhere in there, it was pretty sad. I will never forget the empty look in his eyes & maybe that's what scared me at a young age from ever doing any drugs.

 

I do blame parents though, but in my case I was already on my own but all my friends live at home & their parents had no idea on what they were doing, maybe because they were busy working so much, I don't know.

 

I also heard on the news that the annual rave that happens in the USC campus was canceled because of all the drug use after a teenage died from acid, mom is suing the people in charge of the event.

 

Comment by Jesus Hernandez on May 11, 2011 at 12:06pm

Damn! U know what? I grew up around this scene, among many others, and i never saw kids acting so stupid. its hard to believe that their parents don't know what goes on when they go "study" at a friends house. 

Some drugs aren't as bad as others, but as long as it alters your state of mind, these kids were doing it. i even saw a couple of idiots with rags and some aerosol sniffing away

Comment by The Man on May 11, 2011 at 11:19am

I remember we had an article in LBCC's magazine and it had an issue similar to this. I don't believe there's an age limit to get into the major ones like EDC and stuff like that. I know the police can't completely control the situation so, the article implied the cops know what goes on and just try to make sure no one basically dies.

 

From what people tell me who have been to raves tell it's where you can go to get some acid, X, shrooms and all that stuff. I wouldn't want to be surrounded by teenie boppers all drugged up.

Comment by Matt Nailat on May 11, 2011 at 11:02am

I know I didn't answer any of the questions above, but I will now. I'm from an agency that focuses on substance abuse, therefore, Alcohol, Tobacco & Other Drugs (ATOD), as well as other addictions (gambling, sex, internet etc.), is what I focus on as they're all interrelated to the word "addiction."

Best way to deal with the youth's consumption of substances, is to educate them. This isn't talking about abstinence, this is educating them about scenarios, assuming that you talked about prevention but it's not getting through to them.

The reality is that you will be in a scenario where you're pressured to take drugs. It's best to learn how to deal with the scenario with the precautions you should keep in mind. What it means to OD and how to avoid it. What to do if your friend ODs. Where to go for help. You could try your best with prevention methods, but it's safer to assume that anyone will be a user and that people should know what it's like and what to do to avoid killing themselves and continuing an unhealthy lifestyle.

Comment by GDub on May 11, 2011 at 10:55am

Totally dating myself here, but the end of my high school years/beginning of college was at the beginning of the Acid House era, around 1986-1992 and many people I knew would drop acid, experience a little 420 action and then go to clubs that stayed open until 2am, then go to after hour parties until the sun came up. Though acid certainly isn't a good thing to ingest, I am happy that we had fun doing what we did before Meth and GHB and some of the other current drugs came along. Almost seems innocent now looking back at it now. Long live ACID HOUSE! lolz

Comment by Matt Nailat on May 11, 2011 at 10:54am

In terms of trends, I feel like mainstream media has influence upon massive amounts of people. Yet there are the dedicated music heads, that solely like music, not because it's trendy. I feel that what has happened between '04 to today, had collided both mainstream and a certain scene of Electric Dance Music (EDM), which I like to assume is Electro. The reason I say '04 comes from my friend's opinion who believes that the top 40 dance scene shifted when Justin Timberlake & Timbaland produced a song that established a steady house beat; the song's called "Sexyback."  Love it or hate it, you would eventually get a bunch of artists mimicking electro/dance/house in years to come, which my belief, had ended (no offense to any ladies) the "panty wetting" era of top 40, which in my opinion, started with Neptunes and Nelly's "Hot in herre," goes to Clipse, LL, Kelis, etc. I'd say the era ruled because of Timbaland, Kanye and Neptunes.

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