Bassnectar recently posted on his website a long piece around his thoughts on drug use at his events. This was spawned by two overdoses, one at a Bassnectar show in Chicago and one at a Sound Tribe Sector 9 show earlier in the year. Lorin made a point to encourage the celebration, reverence, and protection of one's own life, reducing risks and making highly informed decisions about one's actions. In doing so he directed legions of fans to dancesafe.org. I was informed of it by our hippie webmaster when it was posted, and just now got a chance to respond. Here's what I wrote in the comments to his post:
Hey Lorin. Thanks so much for the shout out. Over 700 BassHeads have come to our site since you posted this. My name is Nathan Messer, and I'm the president of DanceSafe. I also have worked as a Green Dot Ranger Lead at Burning Man, performing something akin to psychedelic emergency services there for about 5 years.
For those of you who don't know us, we're a network of drug users and former drug users, primarily from the rave and nightclub communities, who seek to educate fellow drug users, especially naive users, with information on how to identify and reduce risks associated with recreational drug use. Sometimes this means abstaining and sometimes this means taking less, or telling your friends what you plan to do so they can help watch out for you, or any number of other steps you can take to mitigate the harms associated with the use of drugs.
We do not try to tell people to not use drugs. There are many, many, many organizations out there doing that. We are targeting those who choose to use anyway, or are thinking of using anyway. Those who Just Say Maybe.
In regards to ecstasy in particular, there are some concrete steps that users, venue owners, and promoters can take to mitigate the harms associated with ecstasy use. The number one cause of ecstasy 'overdose' is a combination of dose, heat and dehydration. Ecstasy causes body temperature to rise, increases sweating, and reduces the urge to drink water. Venue owners can help by providing free cold drinking water, making sure they don't fill the venue over capacity, and ensuring good ventilation. If the temperature in the middle of the dancefloor is 100-120 degrees, something is seriously wrong. Users need to remember to drink a pint of water an hour (a water bottle is a pint). Though avoid water bottles and bring your own Nalgene or Sigg bottle, because plastic water bottles are terribly wasteful and certainly not good for the environment. Venue owners, if they sell bottled water, should leave the caps on so buyers can refill in the bathroom taps.
With regards to ecstasy use - LESS IS MORE. The more ecstasy you use at a time, and the more often you use, the less you'll feel the special effects over time. If it is a special experience for you then save it for special occasions, use less (you can cut pills in half). Drink water, replenish electrolytes, and take 5-HTP afterwards to help protect your serotonin neurons.
Lorin, if you are interested, we would be happy to staff some booths at your events in cities where we have volunteers (primarily west coast, Wisconsin, and some other locations). We distribute ecstasy testing kits in an attempt to weed out 'fake' ecstasy that often has more problems than MDMA itself, especially if the user doesn't know that's what they're taking. We also have info cards detailing basic health and safety info regarding 15 different popular recreational drugs, and are adding more all the time.
Email us at dsusa@dancesafe.org if you want to collaborate. I think you already know our web designer, Michael Holden, who has taken photos of you at various Seattle events and Burning Man.
