Electronic Dance Music Is Not The Path To The Dark Side
Electronic Dance Music, otherwise known as EDM, has become one of the fastest-growing music genres in the country, and for good reason. Festivals around the world are packed with fans coming together to share their music with the rest of the world. However, with the growing popularity of the music genre comes stereotypes as to how EDM music can be connected to drugs, including heroin, Molly, cocaine, MDMA and marijuana, among other kinds.
It is the kind of stereotype that throws people off and thinks that every fan of EDM music is a bad person because it’s the genre that leads them to do drugs. According to Toronto Life, back in August of 2014 at a Veld Music Festival in Toronto, a 20-year-old woman and a 22-year-old man died at the festival after taking MDMA. It’s the kind of concerns that companies behind these festivals face every single year.
According to statistics from DrugAbuse.com, most of the drugs that fans use at festivals are MDMA/Molly/Ecstasy and pills, mostly non prescribed. In fact, 80.5 percent of fans at EDM Music festivals, including Electric Daisy Carnival and Ultra, say that they take these kinds of drugs. This is not to say that every EDM fan is bad because they take drugs. After all, there are fans, like myself, that don’t take any drugs but still enjoy the wonderful EDM that comes out today.
The EDM industry alone is a $20 billion industry that continues to grow and get bigger as time goes by.
“I believe that the stereotype is there which makes the people want to do drugs so that they can feel in the music what other people say they feel because of the drugs,” said Sabrina Garcia, a North Campus music major. “I don’t think that it is connected to the bad choices people make in their whole life. People make bad choices despite what they listen to like if they decide to do drugs.”
Fernando Camblor, a computer science major and music lover at Hialeah Campus, said that fans are responsible for drug use.
“If drugs are being sold, it’s sold by the fans themselves, not the festival itself,” Camblor said. “I strongly believe if people didn’t sell drugs at the festival, the stereotype wouldn’t exist.”
A stereotype like this makes me look bad because now people would think that I make bad choices, all simply because I listen to EDM. But that’s fortunately not the case.
I say people need to slow down and think about what they are going to do before attending any music festival of any kind. One fun decision can lead to dangerous consequences, which can lead to death. There’s already enough energy during songs and festivals, and there’s no reason to have more. Just enjoy it and don’t take drugs.
