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Raves are a magnet for dangerous drugs, DEA official says
21/2/04
By Sean Ingram
[email protected]
The first rave party came to Arkansas in a warehouse in Little Rock, a Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) demand reduction coordinator explained to more than 100 participants of a designer drug summit.
That rave party, titled “Generocity,” attracted about 600 young teen-agers, paltry to typical numbers of the techno-dance parties that start at dark and last way after the sun has risen the next day. A 1999 rave party at the Arkansas State Fairgrounds attracted more than 6,000 teens from several states and the attention of Little Rock law enforcement on the local, state and national level.
“About 400,000 fewer young people used drugs in 2003 than in 2001,” explained Special Agent Keith Warzecha of the DEA’s Little Rock district office. “However, our young people are being drawn to rave parties to enhance a euphoric experience through music, drugs and dancing, although promoters tell you they try to curb the use of drugs and alcohol.”
Parents may be told they can be dropped off at rave parties and will have security present to deter drug and alcohol use, but an undercover video shot during a rave party recently at a metropolitan city showed “security guards” watching from afar as teen-agers did everything from use inhalants with surgical masks and heating inhalers to shoot the contents into other’s mouths to using glow sticks and even pacifiers to further enhance euphoria.
The video also showed what is often the end result of a rave party: A teen-age girl shaking violently being carried down a street by friends, or teens loaded up into waiting ambulances to be taken to separate hospitals so they do not attract law enforcement agency’s attention.
Club drugs
Today’s club drugs include Ecstasy (or candy), LSD, Ketamine, GHB and marijuana. The success of a rave party, according to Warzecha, is determined by the disc jockey’s performance and quality of drugs that are even advertised on posters and cards that make their way through high schools, colleges and popular teen hangouts. Each party has a title and subliminal advertising is often used.
Club drugs can be concealed inside Tootsie Roll wrappers and Pez dispensers. Clothing that can be bought in some retail stores and on the Internet includes hidden compartments in shoes and hats to store illegal pills.
Another popular site at rave parties? Barrels for participants to throw up in after the drugs begin to wear off and their bodies try to deal with the shock.
The music includes primarily techno, but “acid, jungle, house, trance, hip hop, hardcore, breaks,” and “gabber” will find their way through the blaring large stereo speakers. With all the participants and all the drugs and alcohol in a closed area, promoters even charge extra for youth to be able to utilize air-conditioned rooms, called “chill-out rooms,” so they can cool down when the drugs they have taken causes their bodies to heat up to deadly levels.
“Two kids, age 15 and 16, had a core body temperature of 115 and 116 degrees Fahrenheit (respectively),” Warzecha explained. “They were thrown in an ice bath at the hospital. An hour later, their core body temperature came down to 108 degrees. They later died.”
A 17-year-old Hot Springs boy who died after a Little Rock rave party was diagnosed as having an “environmental and exertional hyperthermia complicating acute MDMA and Ketamine intoxication. A woman who wanted to celebrate her birthday with two pills of Ecstasy died two weeks later after the second pill forced a massive overdose from which she never regained consciousness.
Yesterday’s drug paraphernalia included spoons, pipes, rolling papers and bongs. At rave parties, pacifiers are given away to those who use Ecstasy because the drug causes one to grind their teeth. Teens can go through two or three pacifiers a night easily. Glow sticks can be used by friends to swirl around others to increase one’s psychodelic effect.
Since Ecstasy is also known as the love drug, many rave parties have massage tables and persons who provide a massage for five minutes for as little as $2.
Ecstasy can be changed to fit the changing times or even holidays. For instance, pills with hearts could be purchased on Valentine’s Day. In case you want to ask about the drug for St. Patrick’s Day, you would inquire about Shamrocks. Ecstasy pills with the letters “HR,” relating to the marketing popularity with young people of the Harry Potter books and movies, show that the drug is trying to make its way to the youngest potential users possible.
“Rolling, under the influence, blowing up, peaking, stacking (taking multiple amount of pills at once), piggy-backing (taking several pills in a short time period) — it takes 20 to 75 minutes for Ecstasy to get into your system, lasts for up to four hours, then takes up to a couple of hours to come down,” Warzecha pointed out. “About 80 percent of it comes from Europe. No one knows what else is inside Ecstasy pills on the black market. They can either be one milligram or up to 193 milligrams.”
The DEA agent noted that two national magazines, Time and Newsweek, have printed articles arguing that newly popular drugs were not only unaddictive, but caused no harm to the human body.
“In 1977, an article stated that a newly popular drug was ‘not addictive and caused no withdrawal symptoms.’ When taken in moderation, the drug ‘probably causes no significant mental or physical damage and a number of researchers have concluded that it can be safer than liquor and cigarettes when used discriminately.’
“The drug in question was cocaine. Unfortunately, the magazine’s assessment was dead wrong. The magazine, by the way, was Newsweek. In June 2000, Time magazine stated in an article that Ecstasy ‘is so fascinating, and thus dangerous to anti-drug crusaders, that it appears to be a safer drug than heroin and cocaine, at least in the short run’.”
Predatory drugs
“One teen-ager told her parents, ‘Every day, you tell us about pot and coke. But, why didn’t you warn us about GHB?’ after she watched her friend die,” Warzecha stated.
GHB is one of many predatory drugs used by men, sometimes even women — and available on the high school level in Little Rock, according to Warzecha — to gain sex from persons who cannot defend themselves or even respond to any advances. It’s easy to obtain, acts fast, is rapidly eliminated from the body and includes many relatives such as GBL, BD, GHV and GVL. They can be bought for $2 to $5, can start working in up to half an hour and last for up to eight hours.
Ketamine is another sexual predatory drug used in dance club settings. It’s also used by veterinarians to neuter dogs and cats, the DEA agent pointed out. It can cause amnesia, hallucinations, dizziness, irrational behavior, nausea, hypotension and loss of consciousness.
Last October, law enforcement officers discovered one pill that contained Ecstasy, Ketamine and methamphetamine. What are parents and peers supposed to do about this growing trend?
“Parents can encourage healthful activities,” Warzecha added. “Be honest, begin early and stand firm with children. Keep talking, and listen, listen and listen some more. Sometimes kids say the darndest things, but you know, it’s not far from the truth.
“Look for the signs of drug abuse, such as a sudden drop in academic performance, withdrawal, isolation, changes in friends, loss of interest in hobbbies or sports, changes in sleeping and eating habits, and physical changes.”
On the Web:
www.monitoringthefuture.org
Link
21/2/04
By Sean Ingram
[email protected]
The first rave party came to Arkansas in a warehouse in Little Rock, a Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) demand reduction coordinator explained to more than 100 participants of a designer drug summit.
That rave party, titled “Generocity,” attracted about 600 young teen-agers, paltry to typical numbers of the techno-dance parties that start at dark and last way after the sun has risen the next day. A 1999 rave party at the Arkansas State Fairgrounds attracted more than 6,000 teens from several states and the attention of Little Rock law enforcement on the local, state and national level.
“About 400,000 fewer young people used drugs in 2003 than in 2001,” explained Special Agent Keith Warzecha of the DEA’s Little Rock district office. “However, our young people are being drawn to rave parties to enhance a euphoric experience through music, drugs and dancing, although promoters tell you they try to curb the use of drugs and alcohol.”
Parents may be told they can be dropped off at rave parties and will have security present to deter drug and alcohol use, but an undercover video shot during a rave party recently at a metropolitan city showed “security guards” watching from afar as teen-agers did everything from use inhalants with surgical masks and heating inhalers to shoot the contents into other’s mouths to using glow sticks and even pacifiers to further enhance euphoria.
The video also showed what is often the end result of a rave party: A teen-age girl shaking violently being carried down a street by friends, or teens loaded up into waiting ambulances to be taken to separate hospitals so they do not attract law enforcement agency’s attention.
Club drugs
Today’s club drugs include Ecstasy (or candy), LSD, Ketamine, GHB and marijuana. The success of a rave party, according to Warzecha, is determined by the disc jockey’s performance and quality of drugs that are even advertised on posters and cards that make their way through high schools, colleges and popular teen hangouts. Each party has a title and subliminal advertising is often used.
Club drugs can be concealed inside Tootsie Roll wrappers and Pez dispensers. Clothing that can be bought in some retail stores and on the Internet includes hidden compartments in shoes and hats to store illegal pills.
Another popular site at rave parties? Barrels for participants to throw up in after the drugs begin to wear off and their bodies try to deal with the shock.
The music includes primarily techno, but “acid, jungle, house, trance, hip hop, hardcore, breaks,” and “gabber” will find their way through the blaring large stereo speakers. With all the participants and all the drugs and alcohol in a closed area, promoters even charge extra for youth to be able to utilize air-conditioned rooms, called “chill-out rooms,” so they can cool down when the drugs they have taken causes their bodies to heat up to deadly levels.
“Two kids, age 15 and 16, had a core body temperature of 115 and 116 degrees Fahrenheit (respectively),” Warzecha explained. “They were thrown in an ice bath at the hospital. An hour later, their core body temperature came down to 108 degrees. They later died.”
A 17-year-old Hot Springs boy who died after a Little Rock rave party was diagnosed as having an “environmental and exertional hyperthermia complicating acute MDMA and Ketamine intoxication. A woman who wanted to celebrate her birthday with two pills of Ecstasy died two weeks later after the second pill forced a massive overdose from which she never regained consciousness.
Yesterday’s drug paraphernalia included spoons, pipes, rolling papers and bongs. At rave parties, pacifiers are given away to those who use Ecstasy because the drug causes one to grind their teeth. Teens can go through two or three pacifiers a night easily. Glow sticks can be used by friends to swirl around others to increase one’s psychodelic effect.
Since Ecstasy is also known as the love drug, many rave parties have massage tables and persons who provide a massage for five minutes for as little as $2.
Ecstasy can be changed to fit the changing times or even holidays. For instance, pills with hearts could be purchased on Valentine’s Day. In case you want to ask about the drug for St. Patrick’s Day, you would inquire about Shamrocks. Ecstasy pills with the letters “HR,” relating to the marketing popularity with young people of the Harry Potter books and movies, show that the drug is trying to make its way to the youngest potential users possible.
“Rolling, under the influence, blowing up, peaking, stacking (taking multiple amount of pills at once), piggy-backing (taking several pills in a short time period) — it takes 20 to 75 minutes for Ecstasy to get into your system, lasts for up to four hours, then takes up to a couple of hours to come down,” Warzecha pointed out. “About 80 percent of it comes from Europe. No one knows what else is inside Ecstasy pills on the black market. They can either be one milligram or up to 193 milligrams.”
The DEA agent noted that two national magazines, Time and Newsweek, have printed articles arguing that newly popular drugs were not only unaddictive, but caused no harm to the human body.
“In 1977, an article stated that a newly popular drug was ‘not addictive and caused no withdrawal symptoms.’ When taken in moderation, the drug ‘probably causes no significant mental or physical damage and a number of researchers have concluded that it can be safer than liquor and cigarettes when used discriminately.’
“The drug in question was cocaine. Unfortunately, the magazine’s assessment was dead wrong. The magazine, by the way, was Newsweek. In June 2000, Time magazine stated in an article that Ecstasy ‘is so fascinating, and thus dangerous to anti-drug crusaders, that it appears to be a safer drug than heroin and cocaine, at least in the short run’.”
Predatory drugs
“One teen-ager told her parents, ‘Every day, you tell us about pot and coke. But, why didn’t you warn us about GHB?’ after she watched her friend die,” Warzecha stated.
GHB is one of many predatory drugs used by men, sometimes even women — and available on the high school level in Little Rock, according to Warzecha — to gain sex from persons who cannot defend themselves or even respond to any advances. It’s easy to obtain, acts fast, is rapidly eliminated from the body and includes many relatives such as GBL, BD, GHV and GVL. They can be bought for $2 to $5, can start working in up to half an hour and last for up to eight hours.
Ketamine is another sexual predatory drug used in dance club settings. It’s also used by veterinarians to neuter dogs and cats, the DEA agent pointed out. It can cause amnesia, hallucinations, dizziness, irrational behavior, nausea, hypotension and loss of consciousness.
Last October, law enforcement officers discovered one pill that contained Ecstasy, Ketamine and methamphetamine. What are parents and peers supposed to do about this growing trend?
“Parents can encourage healthful activities,” Warzecha added. “Be honest, begin early and stand firm with children. Keep talking, and listen, listen and listen some more. Sometimes kids say the darndest things, but you know, it’s not far from the truth.
“Look for the signs of drug abuse, such as a sudden drop in academic performance, withdrawal, isolation, changes in friends, loss of interest in hobbbies or sports, changes in sleeping and eating habits, and physical changes.”
On the Web:
www.monitoringthefuture.org
Link
