I went to my first rave when I was... hmmm I can't remember
My childhood is a blur. Too much hard drugs. Jokes, I was about 14. I took acid, which I'd been doing at places other than raves for quite some time, and if I hadn't found out about some of my fave DJs playing under one roof that night, I probably would have taken acid elsewhere. If I'd been denied entry cos I was a little tike, I may not have gotten into the scene which has made me what I am today, and helped me through a lot of shyte, and been solace at times, shown me some great people, with great ideas and views, which have helped me grow into who I am, and I wouldn't be helping people take pills as safely and responsibly as possible!! and... blah blah youse know what the scene is about. But for me, it took me away from a much nastier scene and kept me safe.
So yeah... I went to raves as one of 'those kids' and I'm ok... I'm pretty sure I'm better off for it to be honest. I stopped running with da homies, beatin' peeps for pennies and payback, gamin' punks who fucked wit us two mumfs bak. Yo word to the lad I beat so hard with a bat till he couldn't see thru the blood no more.
And shouts to my best friend... who's dead. And cheers to memories of seeing guns laying about, and going for a regular bigass 'beat the fuck out of these c*nts' sessions 'cos they fuct with our shit', and ODing at the age of 16 and nearly dieing myself. (There's more stories if you like
) I stopped doing all that cos I found something better. If I'd been stopped from getting into the scene over the ages of 13-17, I've little doubt my life would suck real hard right now. And I was taking all the drugs I took at raves before I knew what a rave was. I went to a rave before I knew what a rave was!! Just saw a flyer with all these names of DJs I'd been listening to the tunes of and went to listen. I didn't take acid cos I felt it was the done thing at raves.
There's my can of worms, I guess I opened it up and sprayed some worms about the place. I guess my point is, a lot of these kids aren't taking drugs because they're at raves. And they could be doing a lot worse. Maybe having them in this scene is the better thing for them. Stopping them attending is not going to make them stay home and read bookes instead.
The scene is full of drugs, and some kids are going to be exposed to a greater amount of drugs, and greater opportunity for drug taking by attending raves. And sure, they're not aware of the consequences of their actions to a large extent. But some are there for the tunes, and most would be taking drugs anyways. I don't think they're going there expecting to just listen to a DJ and end up bombing a pill because some ddd (dodgy dd) pushed it onto them.
Anyways I don't see it as a cut an dried issue. Everyone's an individual, and I just don't like the idea of disadvantaging everyone to protect the stupidity of a percentage. Basically, they could be doing worse, I say let them grow up how they do, they get more truthful drug education by attending raves than school, and until that changes, I'm happy to see 14year olds at raves, tripping balls and pilling hard
Sure you can listen to your rave tunes at home, I did it plenty of times when I was a teensy bopper!! I even did it whilst tripping and speeding hard
But if I never had the chance to attend events at the Embassy Ballroom, and Midland Wharehouses, I'm sure I'd be in a pretty sucky position today.