Raves Essay Research Paper Raves are all

Raves Essay, Research Paper

Raves are all night parties attended by youths aged from 14-25; they are made up of DJs playing loud electronic music normally generated by computers. Raves first emerged in the mid-1980s in Britain as after parties when clubs were closed. Since then, raves have gained popularity in many other countries in the world and expanded itself into a youth culture. Rave admission fees normally range from $5 for nightly events, and prices have gone up to $200 for the biggest events. Since rave events have attracted up to 30,000 youths aged from 14-25 in one event, drug usage at raves have also become a concern for parents and politicians recently. To make raves safer, policies have been created to try to control rave events, and to legally publicize and hold a rave today; the promoter must hold a proper permit. Driving raves underground by banning them will only make them more dangerous because they are harder to monitor, therefore more lives are at risk. The government needs take the responsibility to try helping make raves safer; rave parties should not be banned by the government.

Bans would only force raves to be illegally held underground at unsafe venues. Underground raves have been proven much more dangerous than controlled raves. If the government bans raves, the raves would just move on to the underground, making them a lot more dangerous. To acquire a permit for a rave, the venue must comply with the rave protocol that was made to ensure the safety of venues for raves. According to the protocol, venues must have been reviewed long before the event, and the venue must provide running water at no charge. Raves in the underground have been the cause of many deaths due to the lack of water, air or space. On October 10 1999, Allan Ho who was a 21-year-old Ryerson student died from an ecstasy overdose at a rave. He attended an underground rave that was held in an abandoned warehouse that provided no running water and very poor ventilation. The venue was certainly no place to hold a rave with 3,500 people, and police officials also referred the venue as a firetrap . Driving raves underground is dangerous. Remember, Allan Ho s death occurred in a place that was not licensed. (Chow, 2000). Since there are no regulations for raves when they are held underground, promoters normally risk the safety of everyone else by shutting off running water and charging up to $5 per bottle of water. Underground raves are always held in a mystery location that is normally not disclosed until hours before the event (Wier, 2000). Promoters do this to deter police surveillance, and therefore there are no police and paramedics outside the event like at controlled raves. It is much better to have ambulance, firefighters and 70 pay duty cops lined up outside ready to respond to problems before, rather than too late (Levy, 2000). Having paramedics outside raves has already saved 21 people who were taken to hospitals who attended raves at the CNE in the last 3 years. The 21 people would have been found dead from drug overdoses if there were no one outside to help. The government must make raves safer by allowing more control instead of banning them so raves would be forced into the underground where they are more dangerous.

Raves are the youth culture of today, and they will continue to exist even if the government tries to stop them. In the past, youth culture was always the concern for parents and politicians. Like rock concerts in the 70s, drugs were a problem, but stopping them would not solve the problem, they were likely to get worse. They continued, because it was the youth culture, and no grown-ups could stop it from happening. Youth cultures that existed in the past such as disco, Elvis, swing kids and rock fans all had their share of drugs, but they were all an expression of themselves, and politicians were not ready to stop people from expressing themselves freely. Raves are also seen as a stress-relief from the outside world, as raves have attracted a variety people who think of themselves as outcasts, but at raves, the peace, love and unity makes them feel wanted.

but what struck me more than the immense sensory bliss was the amazing group of people who shared this experience with me six thousand young, beautiful, humans having a good time together. No fights. No one crying in the corner. No one sick in the stairway. Everyone smiling. Six thousand brothers and sisters of all races, classes, and sexual orientations, living equality. Beautiful. (Raver)

Since their birth in Canada 10 years ago, raves have changed a lot since when they first started as events where a group of teenagers would bring speakers and equipment to a warehouse and break into it, then party all night or till the police showed up. Today raves are held publicly, and raves today feature amazing lasers, artificial fog, spinning records and lot of friends to meet (Farley, 2000). Raves are unstoppable; they represent what youths are today. Raves are threatening the very fabric of Canadian life (Fatino, 2000). Raves are not threatening anything, but banning them would destroy the youth culture. Raves should not be banned, the government cannot abolish what so many people represent, the youth culture will continue on.

The government should not ban raves, but instead provide more control at legal raves and more drug education. Attempts to ban raves in the past in the