The electronic music scene does bring to mind a dark room, flashy lights, glow sticks and a few hundred shirtless people dancing to what may seem to many people “the same song all night”. This is especially true of the club goers/ravers of the late 80s and 90s, which many people claim were the golden years of this particular brand of music. During this musical uprising new forms of drugs were also popping up in Europe and certain North American cities. Ecstasy and meth dominated (and to a certain extent still do) the EDM (Electronic Dance Music) scene. It isn’t hard to see why clubbers and rave nuts turned to the pills. It was and still is a simple problem solved by a simple pill. “I want to stay up all night and dance to my favorite tunes, why not take this purple pill with a transformers logo on it?”
Of course there is a certain correlation between the underground club scene and designer drugs. But it is important to keep in mind that many other music scenes have brought a long their own drug culture. The Beatles, David Bowie and some of the metal bands of the 80s all brought to the table their own drug scene. There does seem to be a very common theme amongst music and their accompanying drug culture. A lot of “new sounds” or new forms of music are boosted and appreciated by youth in their teens and twenties. That age group tends to experiment with illicit substances and have disposable income and fewer responsibilities.
It may seem unfair to attack the electronic music scene because of the blatant relationship between raver and drugs, while excluding the fact that the music scene for decades has had a tight bond with pot, cocaine, acid, mushrooms and other substances. But the reality is that if you go to raves or after hours night clubs there will be drugs, and plenty of them. Luckily there are findings that many hardcore party people eventually grow out of the scene, which is no easy task as many of them not only do drugs to stay up all night, but also supplemented their intake with downers in order to sleep and more uppers to get them out of bed a hours later.
For those who can’t stop the party cycle, and the tight bond they have with designer drugs, rehab and treatment is key to ending those horrible recovery periods that can sometimes last days after an all night party. It is important to consider the negative physical and psychological damage that can be done by continuous use of ecstasy and meth, as these drugs can lead to addictive behavior that could spiral into a full blown substance abuse disorder.
“There’s ways of dealing with hardships that are healthier than going out.” – Lindsay Lohan