The amendment has nothing to do with missing children and is, in fact, an expansion of the Controlled Substance Act, affectionately known as the "crack house statute." The word RAVE in the 2001 draft is an acronym for the bill as well as the name for a kind of party where, according to [Joseph Biden], people are vulnerable to Ecstasy. A rave is a large electronic music party held in space leased to promoters. The promoters and organizers book a list of DJs who will draw a crowd and provide music. A rave generally lasts all night and often well into the early morning, and kids spend the time dancing and socializing. Some attendees do use drugs, but owners do not support the circulation of drugs. Under this act, any property owner who hosts a party at which attendees buy, sell, or consume illegal drugs, regardless of measures taken by the owner to prevent such behavior, stands to face a hefty fine—and nine years in prison.
In American culture, history repeats itself and youth culture remains perpetually under fire. Rock and roll has been a threat to the moral fabric of American society for almost 50 years. Yet the baby boomers are in control and seem to have turned out okay, despite Haight-Ashbury and Elvis's gyrating hips. Older generations fear what the youth embrace.
Youth culture is under fire once again and this time electronic music is the culprit. Kids, electronic music, and the drug Ecstasy have become synonymous in the eyes of the law.
Democratic Sen. Joseph Biden of Delaware used the PROTECT Act, a piece of necessary legislation that expanded the Amber Alert, as a Trojan horse for a completely unrelated amendment to the federal drug code. Formerly known as the RAVE (Reducing Americans' Vulnerability to Ecstasy) Act, the Illicit Drug Anti-Proliferation Act of 2003 failed to successfully pass through any Congressional committees. Undeterred, Sen. Biden managed to tack a watered-down version of the RAVE Act onto the PROTECT Act on April 30.
The amendment has nothing to do with missing children and is, in fact, an expansion of the Controlled Substance Act, affectionately known as the "crack house statute." The word RAVE in the 2001 draft is an acronym for the bill as well as the name for a kind of party where, according to Biden, people are vulnerable to Ecstasy. A rave is a large electronic music party held in space leased to promoters. The promoters and organizers book a list of DJs who will draw a crowd and provide music. A rave generally lasts all night and often well into the early morning, and kids spend the time dancing and socializing. Some attendees do use drugs, but owners do not support the circulation of drugs. Under this act, any property owner who hosts a party at which attendees buy, sell, or consume illegal drugs, regardless of measures taken by the owner to prevent such behavior, stands to face a hefty fine -- and nine years in prison.
I do not condone the use of Ecstasy. But to prosecute property owners who provide their space for a rave under the same law that we use to lock up crack house owners is a gross injustice. Every rave I have been to in the last four years has taken every possible step to make sure that illicit substances do not enter. The organizers hire bouncers who conduct reasonably thorough searches at the door to ensure that attendees are not transporting drugs and they circulate bouncers throughout the party to watch out for illicit substance exchanges. The door searches are so thorough that I've had the contents of my bag dumped out, been asked to take my hair down, and even had to remove my shoes and socks. Drug use is not supported and property owners should not be held responsible for kids who sneak Ecstasy in behind their ears.
The original bill outlined its findings in greater detail than the one passed with the PROTECT Act of this year, but the target is still the same. The Congressional Record includes Sen. Biden's introduction of the law in which he makes it abundantly clear that raves are the target. Biden makes promoters out to be evil corruptors of our nation's youth, stating, "Some supplement their profits from the $10 to $50 cover charge to enter the club by selling popular Ecstasy paraphernalia such as baby pacifiers, glow sticks, or mentholated inhalers. And predatory party organizers know that Ecstasy raises the core body temperature and makes the user extremely thirsty, so they sell bottles of water for $5 or $10 apiece."
Drinking water is now indicative of drug use? Who doesn't need to drink water when they dance? Adults drink alcohol; kids under the age of 21 drink water. Glow sticks, too, indicate drug use? I guess parking lot staffs will have to find another way to direct traffic so as not to look like "rogue rave organizers."
There is a kind of energy that fuels these parties, the same sort of energy that allowed the Rolling Stones and Elvis to grip the youth of generations before us. It's new, it's vibrant, and it makes us want to dance. Most people enjoy raves without the aid of Ecstasy for these reasons. Apparently, the proponents of such fun- absconding legislation either missed out on being young or have gone to extreme lengths to forget.
Unlike the "acid tests" held in San Francisco in the 1960s, where buckets of Kool-Aid laced with LSD were served up to both unsuspecting guests and those there for the "electric Kool-Aid," people who own property where raves are held do not push drugs onto their patrons. But now, those who wish to support the culture of my generation and provide a place where we can party with our peers stand to be persecuted by a government fearful of its own youth.
If we can't change the way our leaders think about our culture, the best we can do is remember. This will someday be our nation, and we have the power to break the cycle of war on youth culture.
Jessica Hemerly of New Tripoli is working in Washington, D.C., at the National Journal.
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