Pubdate: Thu, 11 Sep 2003
Source: GW Hatchet (DC Edu)
Copyright: 2003 The GW Hatchet
Contact:  http://www.gwhatchet.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/757
Author: Sacha Evans
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/raves.htm (Raves)

SPEAKER WILLIAM MCCOLL: CRITICISMS OF THE R.A.V.E. ACT

With Criticism Focused on Its Enforcement Policy, the R.A.V.E. Act 
Threatens to Ban Raves From Clubs.

During the Sept. 6 protest and concert against the congressional R.A.V.E. 
Act (Reducing Americas Vulnerability to Ecstasy), house music innovators 
took the stage to tell attendees about the act's implications and problems.

Critics say the act will cause clubs to stop playing house music because of 
its alleged connection with ecstasy use. Critics also claim the act is 
ambiguous, giving law enforcement officials wide discretion as well as 
scaring promoters from hosting raves because of heavy fines and the threat 
of imprisonment if any drug use is found to take place during their event.

Director of National Affairs for the Drug Policy Alliance William McColl, a 
lobbyist, he explained some of the issues facing his organization and his 
involvement with ROAR - a symbol for the National Dance and Music Rights 
Alliance.

Culture Shock: In talking about who the drug war is being waged against, 
why do you think the electronic dance community has been made a target?

William McColl: I suspect that within some scenes of the electronic dance 
music community, there has been elevated usage of drugs. I think we'd be 
foolish to say that Club Limelight in New York in 1994 didn't have elevated 
usage of drugs. They seem to have lost control of the clubs. What we're 
saying is that ecstasy isn't a part of dance. Ecstasy isn't a part of the 
music. There's a whole cultural component here, and dance and music do not 
equal drugs. People would also be better off getting real information. If 
they kept themselves safe and knowing basic information, like, if you're 
going to party, don't party by yourself. And if you're going to party and 
take ecstasy, you need to know what kind of risks you're running.

CS: Has the Drug Policy Alliance had any involvement with any other music 
scenes? Obviously drug use is not unique to rave culture.

WM: Well, the interesting part is that the RAVE act does not just apply to 
raves. They called it the rave act because that was the scary buzz word of 
the moment. But this legislation applies to hip-hop, this applies to rock 
music...it applies to everyone, and we're trying to reach out to all of 
those communities.

CS: What would you say are some of the best things about the rave scene?

WM: Well, first off, the energy.

H: That's non-drug-induced energy, of course.

WM: Yeah, well, of course, but it's this political energy...I had the idea 
that dancers, electronic dance fans, promoters and DJs would pass by and be 
like, well "Whatever, we'll go and move on to the next thing." But what has 
really amazed me is that everyone is really interconnected, everyone talks 
to each other. You send an e-mail out and 100,000 people know about it 
within 10 minutes. So there's energy, people stay focused, there's more 
staying power than I ever would've imagined and there's also this sort of 
willingness to accept people that you're not going to find in every scene. 
I think that's a real strength.

H: Do you think that the media has represented the rave scene accurately?

WM: Oh no, no, no, not at all. If you listen to the media, raves are about 
standing around and taking drugs in order to regress into childhood. And 
that's simply because the media latches on to the most colorful, crazy 
scene. So they go out and look for kids with pacifiers in their mouth and 
kids on drugs and casualties - that's news. But the truth of the matter is 
that you could go to back-country America, to a rock concert or into no 
music scene whatsoever, and what's happening? There's a bunch of people in 
bars having the same drug use issues that people in the rave scene are 
having. Everyone's used to that though. With the rave scene it's become a 
novel concept.

H: Is it fair to say that the problem people have with the (R.A.V.E.) 
legislation is that while punishing those who knowingly and intentionally 
harbor drug users, if a venue owner has a medical staff on call for the 
purpose of aiding an out of control drug user, it implies an acceptance of 
drug use?

WM: Yes, that's exactly what the legislation says, and I mean, sure, I 
think that venue owners have to know that drug use is going on. People who 
own prisons know that drug use is going on, but someone who is responsible 
will have medical personnel on site because it's the right thing to do. And 
that's part of our concern with this whole thing, this fake conversation in 
our country about drugs, where we must have zero tolerance, we won't 
acknowledge use, and when we do, we just suppress it. We use suppressive 
techniques like the criminal justice system to go after people, arrests, 
and funding from the (Drug Enforcement Agency). All this just actually 
creates is fear. It creates the kind of situation where, if someone 
overdoses, their friends don't want to take them to the hospital, or club 
owners will not have water in their clubs or air conditioning because 
they're concerned that resembles an acknowledgement, but its not safe. Our 
rule is safety first. H: How has the DEA used the money appropriated by 
this bill?

WM: One of the very first uses of the money was at the Eagles club in, of 
all places, Billings, Montana. They went to the owners and said, "Hey, if 
you participate in an event regarding Students for a Sensible Drug Policy 
and even one person shows up and smokes a joint, we're going to bust you 
you're going to have a civil penalty of $250,000." So the Eagles Club calls 
the organizer up and says "I'm sorry, you can't have your event." So they 
actually ended up closing down a benefit that was essentially political 
speech. And that is precisely how we said this law was going to be used.

H: Has the media given groups like ROAR, events like this and the 
legislation itself enough attention?

WM: I think the media has a tendency to look for numbers and follow 
official stories. And, unfortunately, when they're following official 
stories, they get sort of lost behind statistics and don't get to what's 
actually going on right here. There's a lot of people here, but not a lot 
of media, and if they came to an event like this, they would see one, not 
scary people; two, good music and three, these people are motivated and 
they know what's going on...I am afraid though. I'm afraid that one of the 
ways this suddenly gets a lot attention, and this hasn't happened yet, is 
that there will be a mass crackdown. I really believe that the fact that 
everybody got organized, and are on top of this and know their rights, and 
know what's going on, I believe that's actually preventing them from going 
really crazy on this. So, we'll see. Maybe this will be a dead letter law, 
and, if so, I can only give credit to the ravers themselves, for getting 
out there and being loud.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager