Dennis RomeroBoy, they're coming out of the woodworks to warn teenagers about this weekend's Electric Daisy Carnival rave in Las Vegas.
The Visions adolescent treatment centers in the L.A. area released a statement this week alleging that the party “has become notorious for teen drug use.”
In fact, the centers' honcho is calling on Las Vegas officials to pull the plug on future editions of EDC. Here's what Visions “director of operations” John D. Lieberman says:
I've been working in the addiction treatment field for 26 years. From the perspective of taking care of addicted teenagers, nothing scares me more than the weekend on which the EDC occurs each year. As a father of two daughters and a grandfather I would not want my children to attend this event.
Girls at EDC Dallas.; Credit: Kevin Todora.
The statement comes after last weekend's death of a 19-year-old man at EDC's Dallas edition. And the party was pulled from L.A.'s publicly owned Coliseum and moved to Vegas following controversy over the death of a 15-year-old girl who died from an ecstasy overdose after attending last year's L.A. EDC.
Visions states that “Sunday's death of a 19-year-old at the EDC event in Dallas … demonstrates that the attempts made by the promoter to 'clean up' their event have fallen tragically short.”
Following last year's death Insomniac Events raised the entrance age of all its events from 16 to 18.
Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman is standing by the event and even said L.A.'s loss is Vegas' gain (although Insomniac head Pasquale Rotella says he still wants to have EDC come back to L.A., its birthplace).
Visions:
… We are disappointed in Mayor Goodman's comments on the event, which we hope are simply the result of a shocking lack of understanding of the risks associated with the event, rather than a desire to feign innocence as a preemptive political strategy in order to protect himself from being held personally responsible for the inevitable disastrous aftermath of the EDC.
Meanwhile, a website that peddles drug testing kits to parents of teens is warning moms and dads not to let their kids to go EDC:
This is an event fueled with drug induced attendees. Some of the concert goers are responsible, and the promoters attempt to halt any drug use, but this event can be dangerous. In addition to teens taking drugs on their own, there is also a possibility that teens could be slipped some sort of drug.
If you are an active parent, make sure you teen is far away from Vegas this weekend. This event is not just another music festival. This event is widely known as a hotspot for drug use.
We guess these warnings would have more credibility if the people behind them weren't trying to sell you something.
[@dennisjromero/djromero@laweekly.com]
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