EM:DEF Periodicals Library

New Orleans Case      Club La Vela Case      Crackdown On Clubs

International News      About "Club Drugs"

The periodicals library includes articles from consumer and trade magazines and newspapers. Several articles are not on the site which have covered issues related to the "War on Clubs" and the cases we've monitored so far. Often this is because we did not receive permission to republish the article, or there was no internet link available to the article. Please notify our librarian if you find links which relate to the topics below. If you are using quotes from an article on the site for a research paper, and cannot find the appropriate bibliographic information, please e-mail our librarian for assistance.

Cases reported on by state:
AL AK AZ AR CA CO CT DE DC FL GA HI ID IL IN IA KS KY LA ME MD MA MI MN MS MO MT NE NV NH NJ NM NY NC ND OH OK OR PA RI SC SD TN TX UT VT VA WA WV WI WY 

New York, NY Village Voice - Rave Robbers (7/11/01)
It looked like any other vigil: Flowers and candles littered the sidewalk, handwritten screeds and love letters for the lost friend covered the door. People gathered around and took photos, hugging each other and bidding farewell. A few cried, and some danced to the music booming from a silver car parked at the curb. But this vigil wasn't for a dead rock star: It was for a club - Twilo - which...

Dallas Observer - "The Right to Rave - Techno music lovers are fighting back" (06/28/01)
A look at the troubles of rave promoters facing the growing "War on Club Drugs" and drug use by patrons. Five pages of interviews with law enforcement officials, promoters and venue managers. Interviews with fans, and a description of outdoor and indoor events.

Salon.com - Sell a glowstick, go to prison (06/20/01)
Authorities are shutting down 21st century raves using 1980s crack-house laws -- and turning pacifiers and Vicks VapoRub into the new drug paraphernalia. This is a five page story detailing law enforcement crackdowns on dance clubs and raves.

Chicago Tribune - "City, state target instigators of raves with stiff penalties" (05/03/01)"
The Chicago City Council and the Illinois General Assembly moved aggressively Wednesday to crack down on wild rave parties that lure youngsters into environments loaded with dangerous club drugs, underage drinking and sometimes predatory sexual behaviour."

New York Times - Club Owners Are Focus of Effort to Combat Drug Use (04/21/01)
"Frustrated by the rising popularity of ecstasy and other illegal drugs among young nightclub revelers, law enforcement agencies and local governments around the country are increasingly going after the clubs themselves, saying that the electronic music they play has a close connection to abuse of these drugs." A two page article.

URB - "The Fight For the Right to Party" (July/Aug, 2001)
Excerpted from URB Magazine No. 86, July/August 2001. For the complete story, pick up the July/August issue of URB Magazine, currently available on newsstands worldwide. The complete story will also be available on our site after August 31st. "The DEA says to put Ecstasy up your butt...."

Anniston, AL

Springdale, AR

Los Angeles, CA

L.A. Times - Deputies Declare Party Over in Hunt for Rave (JuJuBeats)
The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department proclaimed the Antelope Valley rave-free Sunday after a 10-hour "tactical operation" the day before had combed the desert for any sign of the massive dance parties known for pulsating music and unusual, if not illicit, drug use. Deputies worried that after they had arrested an organizer of the fourth annual Jujubeats rave, scheduled for Saturday, its promoters would relocate it. For that reason, more than 50 officers from across Los Angeles County searched for a new site. They cruised the scrubland that had been prepped for the rave. Nothing.   (08/20/01)

O.C. Weekly - Rave Off, Drug paranoia killed B3Cande desert rave (08/17/01)
If you're keeping track, count Huntington Beach-based B3Cande Productions as the latest casualty in the drug-war hysteria against raves. Los Angeles sheriff's deputies preemptively killed B3Cande's fourth annual JuJuBeats rave last week when they arrested for felony vandalism an independent contractor employed by event promoters.

L.A. Times - Rave Promoter Accused of Ruining Sensitive Desert Site (08/10/01)
Plans for an illegal rave that could have drawn as many as 50,000 people were shut down Thursday when Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies arrested a man on suspicion of grading and irrigating 100 acres of desert land he did not own in the Antelope Valley, authorities said.

Redding, CA

Redding Record Searchlight - Conference Warns of Raves (04/18/01)
Expert Says It's Vital To Stop The Use Of Designer Drugs At All-Night Parties. By the end of Tuesday's conference on raves and club drugs, the crowd had one more question: Is it happening here? There was no clear answer.

San Bernardino, CA

Inland Empire Online - San Bernardino pays for businessman to leave (07/23/01)
SETTLEMENT: The concert operator gets $80,000 not to offer another concert in the city after July 23. San Bernardino will pay a concert operator $80,000 to leave town forever in settlement of a federal lawsuit that tested the city's attempts to crack down on late-night parties.

Inland Valley Daily Bulletin - "Desert Rave Rules Heat Up" (07/01/01)
"Permit Required For More Than 200. All-night parties in the desert are not welcome. That is the message county officials delivered this week with the passage of an amendment requiring promoters to have a permit for gatherings with 200 or more people..."

Colorado Springs, CO

Denver, CO

Denver Post - ECSTASY USE SPURS SHIFT IN DENVER'S LIQUOR POLICY(03/24/01)
Denver is changing its liquor license policy in an effort to better fight the use of the drug Ecstasy in nightclubs, but it may mean significantly fewer all-ages shows and serious economic hardship for promoters of shows at local clubs.

Superior, CO

Washington, D.C.

Salon.com - "The Sting" (07/18/00)
Navy investigators seeking ecstasy dealing at Washington dance clubs are accused of targeting gay sailors..."We're concerned that the military is selectively targeting patrons of gay-friendly establishments," says Michelle Benecke, executive director of SLDN. But the Navy has staunchly defended its investigation, first reported by the Washington Blade in June, saying it is a clear-cut case of cracking down on drug dealing in the D.C. "rave club" scene, and has nothing to do with its targets' sexual orientation.

Orlando, FL

News Herald - "Pfeffer's May Face 20 Years in Prison" - (06/07/01)
At about the same time that two Club La Vela executives were being arraigned on federal drug charges (Operating A Crackhouse) Wednesday, their attorneys were filing civil charges against the agencies that headed the investigation.

News Herald - "Police shut down party of thousands" - (04/29/00)
Based on a misleading press release issued by the Bay County Sherif's Department, this article reports that a raid on Club La Vela resulted in seizures of several drugs. What the press release stated - in a round about way - was that a three year investigation resulted in the seizure of several drugs, and that as part of that county-wide investigation, a search warrant was served on Club La Vela. No drugs were recovered from the club.

News Herald - "Statewide raids draw complaints" - (10/06/99)
Other cities across the state Tuesday were reporting club raids similar to one Saturday at Confetti's in Panama City, and all of them are drawing complaints of harassment and overkill. The results of "Operation Heat Rave," a series of drug raids coordinated by the governor's office

News Herald - "Six Week Sweep Nets 99 Arrests" (10/08/01)
The drug community is thousands of dollars poorer after the Bay County Sheriff's Office six-week "Operation Heat Rave." Deputies made 99 drug arrests in the county, served 20 search warrants and collected oodles of designer drugs, narcotics and marijuana.

News Herald - "Camera-wielding deputies 'shoot' lounge customers" - (10/05/01)
A Bay County Sheriff's Office raid that was part of a statewide effort dubbed "Operation Heat Rave" led to four drug arrests at Confetti's Saturday night but left other patrons complaining about deputies' tactics. Customers said rubber-gloved deputies made them file outside one by one so they could stop each person and take his or her picture even though they were not charged with doing anything wrong. (Confetti's is a Gay bar, not a rave).

News Herald - Bay sheriff defends raid on Confetti's - (10/15/01)
Editor's Note: It's been almost two weeks since Bay County sheriff's deputies raided Confetti's nightclub, made four arrests and touched off a firestorm of controversy concerning officers' tactics and attitudes. On Thursday, Sheriff Guy Tunnell discussed the raid in an interview with Mike Cazalas of The News Herald

News Herald - "Club owner files suit against BCSO" - (6/29/99)
The owner of the Sun Dancer nightclub filed a federal lawsuit Monday alleging that the Bay County Sheriff's Office and the Bay County Commission violated her civil rights and caused the closing of her business. (The Sun Dancer serves a predominantly black clientele)

News Herald - "Drug charges dropped in bar case" - (02/05/99)
Even with a criminal charge dropped against its owner, La Royale Lounge remained closed this week and will stay closed pending a state license hearing. (La Royale Lounge serves a predominantly black clientele).

St. Petersburg, FL

Chicago, IL

Chicago Tribune - CITY LAW TARGETING RAVES TAKES BIG STEP (04/20/01)
Landlords Would Face Jail If They Rented Drug Site An ordinance that would make it a crime for Chicago landlords to knowingly rent out buildings for rave parties where illegal drugs are used was approved Wednesday by the City Council's Committee on Police and Fire.

Chicago Sun-Times - MAN DIES AFTER OD AT PARTY (03/20/01)
Cook County sheriff's officers were baffled when youngsters pulled up to their roadside safety check Saturday and asked for directions "to the rave at the Rosemont convention center." It turned out that more than 6,500 revelers from across the Midwest--including 20-year-old James C. Roberts III of Dayton, Ohio--were headed to "Live on the Decks 4," a dance party at the center. Roberts, who bought drugs at the party, died of an apparent overdose Sunday morning after collapsing in a

Joliet, IL

Springfield, IL

Indianapolis, IN

NUVO - The mayor is wrong about raves (08/23/01)
Mayor Peterson and Police Chief Jerry Baker have been making news by mounting a crackdown on raves in Indianapolis. After shutting down a rave on Coffman Road in June, the mayor and the chief, accompanied by Public Safety Director Robert Turner and Marion County Sheriff Jack Cottey, called an Untouchables-style press briefing

Channel 13 - City cracking down on raves (08/16/01)
The intoxicating sounds of music may get silenced. Not because of the beat, but from what goes on in the dark. Teens party, what they call "raving," and crave what's commonly sold there, illegal drugs like Ecstasy.

Indianapolis Star - POLICE RAID LATE-NIGHT RAVE PARTY (06/11/01)
5 Arrested. Police shut down an illegal rave on the Northwestside Sunday because party promoters failed to file a "dance hall permit" with city hall.

New Orleans, LA

The Times Picayune - Ruling could see raves regain their glow
A federal judge on Thursday essentially lifted a ban on glow sticks and pacifiers at the State Palace Theater, which had restricted the items and other rave-related accouterments after prosecutors accused party promoters of spurring illicit drug use at the all-night, electronic music revelries.  (08/24/01)

The Times Picayune - Lawsuit defends right to glow sticks (08/22/01)
The Founding Fathers may not have had pacifiers and stuffed bunny rabbits in mind when they wrote the First Amendment, but displaying them is a form of self-expression worthy of constitutional protection, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday. In defense of electronic-music fans who throng the State Palace Theater for all-night dance parties, the American Civil Liberties Union in New Orleans sued U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft over a recent plea bargain in which rave promoters agreed to ban party accessories such as pacifiers, dust masks and the luminescent plastic wands called glow sticks.

TV Channel 6 - "Rave plea reached" (06/13/01)
The company that leased a building in New Orleans for raves pleaded guilty Wednesday to violating federal crack-house laws, which prohibit people from maintaining a building where drugs are sold or used.

Rolling Stone - DEA Rave Bust Goes Bust (07/19/01)
In a major victory for club promoters and ravegoers, a U.S. attorney in New Orleans has dropped most of the charges against promoters at the State Palace Theatre, home of the city's largest raves. The defendants had been accused of encouraging and assisting drug use. "This is an admission that the government shouldn't have been barking up this tree," says Arthur Lemman, attorney for Brian Brunet, one of the promoters.

U.S. News & World Report - THE FEDS GO AFTER RAVES (06/25/01)
Officials Use An Old Law For A New Purpose
Law enforcement officials and parents have been wrestling with ways to control raves, trendy all-night dance parties where drugs--most notably ecstasy, aka the "hug drug"--are often part of the scene. Now it looks as if they may have a new--if controversial--weapon: a 1986 federal law designed to shut down crack houses by barring companies from "maintaining" buildings where drugs are used and distributed.

Rolling Stone - The War on Raves (05/24/01)
Rave Promoters Busted In Wave Of Drug Crackdowns At Dance Clubs Around The U.S. ROBERT BRUNET IS NOT THE KIND OF GUY you'd imagine being accused of running a drug den. His family had been in the New Orleans "theater business for three generations, and Brunet - a married thirty-six-year-old with three young daughters - had staged dozens of successful raves at the local State Palace Theatre.

San Francisco Chronicle - Save The Rave (04/08/01)
Throw a party, go to jail. At least that's what the federal government would like to see happen in New Orleans, where a club promoter and two managers could face 20 years to life in prison on charges of "operating a continuing criminal enterprise." Some of their patrons, it seems, imbibe drugs while in their venue.

SPIN - Southern Discomfort, Crackhouse Law (April, 2001)
Crystal Method, Tommie Sunshine, The ACLU and The New Orleans DEA all comment as the ACLU's involvement in defending promoters against the "Crackhouse Law" is first announced.

CNN - 'Rave' party organizers indicted under federal drug law (01/12/01)
The U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Louisiana and the Drug Enforcement Administration announced the indictment Friday of three "rave" party organizers, marking the first time the federal "crack house" law has been used for prosecuting organizers of such events.

ABC News - "Feds Crack Down on 'Raves'" (01/13/01)
An indictment Friday in New Orleans against three men who organized a series of rave parties there could signal a nationwide trend, federal prosecutors said. The case appears to be a widening of the prosecutors' focus from those who were dealing or doing club drugs to those who organize parties where they are popular.

NPR Morning Edition - "Drugs In Clubs" (03/08/01)
NPR's Libby Lewis reports on a U.S. attorney's controversial decision to prosecute owners of clubs where raves happen under laws designed to shut down crack houses. The government says the club operators are responsible for the use and sale of ecstasy in the clubs. (3:35)

Anne Arundel County, MD

Capital - Officials Bring Drug Problem Off Streets -- Onto Fairgrounds (04/18/01)
Anne Arundel County has its own drug problem. It doesn't need more drug problems imported from elsewhere -- with the unwitting help of the organization that runs the county fairgrounds. Of course, Anne Arundel County Fair Inc. didn't realize beforehand what it had gotten involved in. The nonprofit corporation merely decided to allow an event called the East Coast Electronic Dance Music Festival to use the Crownsville facility last Saturday.

Potosi, MO

St. Louis Riverfront Times - Raving Mad (07/25/01)
Washington County sheriff's deputies descend on a campground full of electronic-dance enthusiasts, who say their civil rights were trampled. The July 14 shakedown in Potosi suggests that law-enforcement officials are as ignorant of the law as they are of the dance-music scene.

St. Louis, MO

St. Louis Post Dispatch - ECSTASY (05/27/01)
Medical examiner says five deaths here show the drug's effects on judgment can be fatal. On an April night last year, Mattie broke a tab of ecstasy in half and swallowed it. Trusted friends had persuaded the woman, who always considered herself a bit of a prude, to try this drug with its promise of euphoria. Mattie -- a pseudonym -- said it lived up to that promise and more.

New York, NY

Village Voice - Rave Robbers (7/11/01)
It looked like any other vigil: Flowers and candles littered the sidewalk, handwritten screeds and love letters for the lost friend covered the door. People gathered around and took photos, hugging each other and bidding farewell. A few cried, and some danced to the music booming from a silver car parked at the curb. But this vigil wasn't for a dead rock star: It was for a club Twilo which...

Columbia News Service - WITHOUT LICENSE TO DANCE, NO CURE FOR ANTS IN PANTS (04/09/01)
Although cabaret laws were designed to control a burgeoning jazz culture in Harlem three generations ago, current enforcement evokes themes associated with Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani's quality-of-life campaign. The city says that community complaints prompt the inspections and that cracking down on illegal dancing is part of efforts to keep noise levels down and safety standards up.

Village Voice - The Lakeside Lounge enforces the ban on boogie (08/23/00)
A DJ spins mellow breakbeats inside the meat packing district bar Baktun as a film of a house party in stop-action is projected onto a hanging screen. A woman sits at a table, watching the film, entranced by the beauty of human movement. But those characters on the screen are the only ones who are allowed to dance here.

Nightlife '99: Nightclub Limbo - New York Magazine (11/22/99)
These days, nightclub owners have to jump some serious hurdles to get the music pumping. But a new network of fixers-for-hire can help get a club past the hard spots -- if their clients don't go bankrupt first.

Nightlife '99: Wired Things - New York Magazine (11/22/99)
For some high-flying New Yorkers, the party doesn't even begin until 6 a.m. Tell the bouncer you've come to see the Rabbi. At precisely 4 a.m. on a recent Saturday, a crowd waits outside a black door with a peephole on a brownstone-lined street in Alphabet City. The mostly young group is strapped into Prada Velcro bags and wears expensive orange Nikes; there are a few cowboy hats, and one woman wears a baby-T that reads BOYS SUCK.

Nightlife '99: Clear And Present Danger - New York Magazine (11/22/99)
The drug now threatening clubland is colorless, odorless, and so dangerous even some dealers won't sell it. But you can buy it with a credit card on the Internet. It's a rainy Saturday night in late October, and despite a chilly wind blowing off the Hudson River, hundreds of men in tank tops and denim cutoffs are lining up outside the Roxy.

Nightlife '99: Where To Go In New York - New York Magazine (11/22/99)
A long time ago, in a decade that seems far, far away, New York's club bathrooms were filled with more decadence than the clubs themselves. But Rudolph is no fan of reindeer games, so most of our city's finest dance spots have cracked down on drugs and debauchery in not-so-public places.

CNN - Dancing is on the ropes, not the bar, in New York City (04/04/97)
Old law is meant to protect neighborhoods. New York is a fun town that's normally tolerant of different standards of behaviour. That's why the owner of an extremely popular bar called Hogs and Heifers was stunned when police came into his establishment recently and announced he was being shut down.

www.indie-music.com - Is New York Becoming Berlin? (unknown)
How prohibition-era laws ban dancing in New York City. and earn Mayor Rudy Giuliani comparisons to Hitler. The world's largest metropolis, home of incredible cultural diversity, one of the top cities in the world for great art museums and exciting nightlife... or at least it used to be.

The Shadow - SOCIAL CLUB TASK FARCE RAIDS ROCK CLUBS (unknown)
Just before midnight on June 27, the Velvet Mafia was in the middle of an encore set at CBGBs, performing "Girl From Planet Muff," when lead singer Dean Johnson noticed that the audience seemed to double in size. "I had no idea they were police. I thought it was a packed house loving us."

Fayetteville, NC

Fayettville Observer-Times - POPE AIR FORCE BASE ORDERS RANDOM DRUG TESTS (06/02/01)
Military personnel passing through Pope Air Force Base's main gates stand the chance of being told to take a drug test. The tests, part of the Air Force's larger random drug-testing program, are designed to curb increased use of drugs such as Ecstasy and LSD, military officials said. Use of such drugs has become more prevalent in the military in recent years, officials said.

Greenvile, NC

Greenville News - "COUNCILMAN CALLING FOR ANTI-RAVE LAW" (07/01/01)
One member of the Greenville County Council says he will urge his colleagues to consider an ordinance discouraging or altogether prohibiting the all-night psychedelic dance parties known as raves. The comments by Councilman Joe Dill came after 70 people were arrested last weekend on drug and disorderly conduct charges at a Westside rave staged at the Carolina Metroplex on White Horse Road.

Greenville News - "ARRESTS MADE AT GREENVILLE RAVE PARTY" (06/25/01)
Greenville sheriff's deputies arrested more than 70 people on various drugs and disorderly conduct charges at what they described as a rave party over the weekend, according to reports released this morning. Sgt. John Nantz, Sheriff's Office spokesman, said more than 50 deputies were involved with the operation at the Carolina Metroplex at 2600 Whitehorse Road.

Raleigh, NC

News and Observer - ANTI-DRUG MESSAGES THAT WORK (05/15/01)
If you had any doubt about the presence of the Ecstasy drug problem in North Carolina, take a look at what's happening down the road in Charlotte. The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department says it's implementing the licensing of dance halls to protect kids from activities associated with "raves," specifically, the sale, possession and use of illegal drugs.

Spartanburg, SC

Spartanburg Herald Journal - NUMBER OF DRUG INCIDENTS ON THE RISE (06/13/01)
Listen to Spartanburg County Sheriff's Investigator Ken Hancock talk about his job for several minutes and it is not hard to understand why he is concerned about the local drug scene. The veteran narcotics agent has vivid memories of the night he and co-workers found a dehydrated teen-age girl lying in a garbage can behind the Ground Zero night club on Howard Street.

Memphis, TN

Commercial Appeal - TECHNO PARTIES ARE ALL THE RAVE (05/04/01)
But Drug Scares Put A Damper On The Fun. Just past midnight on a balmy Saturday morning, the Mid-South Fairgrounds is sleepy except for the throbbing bass vibrating through the walls of the Pipkin Building and the clusters of teenagers and twentysomethings smoking in the parking lot.

Commercial Appeal - LIFTING THE VEIL OF CLUB DRUG IGNORANCE (04/04/01)
The pattern is familiar: Perceptions change about recreational drugs once thought of as benign, but it sometimes takes a tragedy to create a great leap forward in the learning curve. In Memphis, designer "club drugs" will be better understood because two teenagers died Sunday and Monday, police said, after ingesting a substance that had been sold to them as Ecstasy.

Fort Worth, TX

Fort WorthStar, TX ZEN FEST FINDS ALTERNATE LOCATION (06/09/01)
Opposed In Grandview, It Moves To Ellis County. An all-night dance party scheduled for a Johnson County ranch that drew intense opposition from Grandview residents has been moved to Ellis County. District Judge Wayne Bridewell issued a temporary injunction Thursday evening blocking the event

Galveston, TX

Galveston County Daily News - 84 ARRESTED AT CRYSTAL BEACH RAVE (06/04/01)
A rave party rife with drug use resulted in 84 arrests, two stabbings, and an assault at Crystal Beach between 8 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. Sunday. Galveston Sheriff's Department Capt. Henry Trochesset said thousands of people, most of them under age 25, descended on the widest stretch of Crystal Beach on Saturday evening.

Salt Lake City, UT

Deseret News - RAVERS, OTHERS DENY THE PARTIES ARE DRUG ORGIES (05/04/01)
Don't believe the hype: Raves aren't "drug orgies," a panel of people from the rave scene told parents and the community last week.

Richmond, VA

Richmond Times-Dispatch - ABC LICENSES IN DANGER AT CLUB (06/20/01)
Hearing Officer Cites Drug Sales. A hearing officer for the Virginia Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control recommended yesterday the suspension of a Shockoe Bottom nightclub's licenses to sell alcohol because of drug transactions at the club. The enforcement division of the agency contended that the licenses of Fahrenheit Restaurant and Club should be revoked because the club was a meeting place for the use and sale of drugs and because its owners allowed drug use on the premises.

Richmond Times-Dispatch - Nightclubs in alphabet soup with ABC cracking down on X (06/20/01)
There's trouble right here in River City. That's trouble with a capital T, that rhymes with E, and that stands for Ecstasy. The popular designer drug that multiplies colors, sensations and emotions for lollipop-licking, pacifier-sucking, water-swilling nightclub dancers has become so popular that state Alcoholic Beverage Control agents and police investigators are doing some high-stepping of their own with "Operation Ex-Clubs."

Madison, WI

Capitol Times - RAVE SITE DIRECTOR RAVES ABOUT SAFETY (05/24/01)
Alliant Energy Center Director Bill DiCarlo contends drugs like Ecstasy are a societal problem, not a rave problem. The raves - also called techno dances - hosted at the Alliant Center have attracted a total attendance of more than 45,000 since 1994. The events are promoted as being drug-free.

Capitol Times - Ecstasy Bust Comes right Before Raid (04/28/01)
Authorities made the biggest Ecstasy bust ever in Dane County two days before the first rave at the Alliant Energy Center since New Year's Eve. The federal Drug Enforcement Administration and the Dane County Narcotics and Gang Task Force seized 1,000 tablets of MDMA, commonly known as Ecstasy, before a drug deal involving an undercover police officer Thursday night.

Cheyenne, WY

Casper Star Tribune - PARTY STILL PLANNED AT RANCH (06/21/01)
CHEYENNE, Wyo. ( AP ) - A 24-hour long concert planned for Saturday on a ranch is not a rave, a lawyer said. Cris Campbell of Denver represents Ha Hau, owner of Triad Dragons Entertainment of Denver. Hau is the promoter of the concert on a pasture at the Terry Bison Ranch south of Cheyenne. The event will feature some of the most well-known electronic music performers in the country.

Sydney, Australia

www.inthemix.com.au - Drug Radis Take Their Toll on Sydney (07/06/01)
A consequence of the recent police raids, besides lots of people expressing their democratic viewpoints, has been that Liquid has closed at the Exchange Hotel. The police found that they were in breach of a couple of aspects of the Alcohol Licencing Agreement and the promotors had to close shop.

www.inthemix.com.au - Police Blitz on Sydney Clubs (06/25/01)
Over the weekend, there have been reports of a spate of police raids through Sydney nightclubs, the third time within a month. As reported on channel nine news, on Saturday night, almost 100 police raided Oxford street clubs with sniffer dogs, where they entered the premises and searched patrons for illegal drugs.

Edmonton, Canada

National Post - FOOTLOOSE, TAKE TWO? (06/26/01)
EDMONTON - In a move that has similarities with the movie Footloose, city councilors are today expected to pass a bylaw that bans dancing after 3 a.m. The bylaw will also forbid those under 18 years of age from attending dance events after midnight--

Halifax, Canada

Halifax Daily News - STRIP SEARCH BEGS QUESTIONS (05/27/01)
To the editor: Regarding the strip search of Aleashia Stanley, 17, and Aimee Kindervater, 22, by police who suspected them of carrying drugs at a rave: Kindervater testified the police made her "pull down my underwear, turn around and bend over." What would have happened to the young women had they refused the police order?

Halifax Daily News - You Want to Search Us (05/24/01)
At a Nova Scotia Police Review Board hearing yesterday, Halifax Regional Police Sgt. Robin McNeil testified he would strip-search crime reporter Brendan Elliott or other reporters, if police had the same suspicions of him as they did of organizers of a Halifax rave last year.

Halifax Daily News - 'I ACTUALLY STARTED CRYING' (05/23/01)
Strip Search Extreme, Rave Workers Tell Civilian Police Board Tribunal. Being subjected to a police pat-down before a Halifax rave last year wouldn't have bothered Aleashia Stanley or Aimee Kindervater. What alarmed them - and is now the focus of a Nova Scotia Police Review Board hearing - is the fact Stanley, 19, and Kindervater, 24, were strip-searched.

Ottawa, Canada

Ottawa Citizen - RAVING BYLAW STRIKES A BALANCE (05/14/01)
It's 11 o'clock: Do you know where your children are? Last month, Ottawa council unanimously passed a bylaw regulating raves, the all-night dance parties where young adults dance till dawn, tripping out on hallucinogenic drugs. Though some ravers have thrown their glow sticks in the air in disgust, the council decision is a wise one. The councilors didn't ban raves: They set a few simple rules to ensure the safety of the people who attend the events.

National Post - POSTCARDS FROM THE EDGE (04/17/01)
Check out these drug-information cards at your next rave - It might save your life. Attend an all-night dance event and there's a good chance that somewhere between the DJ on stage and the glowstick booth you will find folks at a table providing sensible pamphlets on drug harm-reduction. Similar to safe-sex educators, their purpose is to reduce potential harm by educating people about the risks of illicit drug use, smoking and drinking.

Toronto, Canada

Toronto Sun - UNDERCOVER COPS NAB 10 RAVERS (04/02/01)
'Loads Of Drugs' At Dance Attended By 3,500. A wide variety of drugs was seized by undercover officers mingling with a rave crowd at an east-end night club. Although only 10 people were arrested on 26 drug-related charges -- two of them 16-year-olds -- Toronto Police said they would have nabbed a lot more if they'd had the manpower.

Surrey, Canada

Surrey Leader - SURREY CITY COUNCIL: RAVES BANNED (03/17/01)
Surrey Raves Have Been Banned. Despite pleas from rave party organizers and security personnel who work the events, city council voted 5-4 Monday to outlaw the all-night parties. Scott Blessin, operations manager for Slipstream Entertainment, a rave security firm, addressed council Monday, suggesting an all-out ban would simply keep "good" raves from coming to Surrey.

Beijing, China

San Francisco Chronicle - All The Rave In China (06/05/01)
Police Are Struggling To Control Ecstasy, The Fast-Spreading Club Drug
Beijing -- The rave was at fever pitch at Beijing's swank Club Vogue. The dance floor was packed with a sweaty mix of foreign and local hipsters tuned in to the techno beats. Some were wagging their heads back and forth like human metronomes -- a sign that they had probably taken the drug Ecstasy. Known in the mainland as "head-shaking drug,"

Toulouse, FR

"French Rebel Against Anti-Rave Laws!" - 05/24/01
French ravers clashed with riot police in this southwestern city late Thursday, injuring up to nine police officers, during the demonstration against a proposed amendment which would outlaw the ravers mass dance parties.

Amsterdam, Holland

Washington Post - Netherlands: Pragmatic Dutch Tolerate Ecstasy Use (04/15/01)
AMSTERDAM -- At a jam-packed private party at the edge of this city's red-light district, the theme one recent night was 1980s retro, the music was blaring and much of the crowd was in an Ecstasy-energized frenzy.

United Kingdom

Observer - "Police Target Club Owners in New Drugs Purge" (UK, 2001)
Police are to be given radical new powers to arrest club owners for allowing drugs to be taken in their clubs, promoting a furious reaction from rave entrepreneurs. The government has passed legislation making it a criminal offense for club owners or managers to allow drugs to be taken on their premises The new law makes it a criminal offense to own or manage a building where any illegal drug is taken.

The Observer - ECSTASY'S DEATH TOLL 'SET TO GO ON RISING' (07/01/01
Experts Say Overheating Is The Lethal Factor In Drug Tragedies. Deaths from the drug ecstasy are at a record high, with the rate of people dying after taking it almost trebling so far this year. An average of eight people have been killed by the drug annually since it

Ecstasy.org - Caught in the Act - (UK, 1997)
The '1997 Public Entertainments Licences (Drug Misuse) Act' will become operational later this month, when the Secretary of State issues a commencement order. Introduced to address the 'serious problem' of drug use at dance events, the Act makes it easy for licensing authorities, acting on the advice of local police, to revoke the licenses of clubs that have a "drug problem" and are not seen to be dealing with it effectively.

ABC News - Government Cracks Down on Club Drug Craze - (08/01/00)
Government officials are agonizing over Ecstasy this week as hearings on the Ecstasy Anti-Proliferation Act, a bill calling for stiffer prison terms for offenses related to sales and abuse of the popular club drug, began in the Senate.

Detroit Free Press - GREATER PROBLEMS (04/16/01)
The health and well-being of the youth in this community is not threatened by ecstasy. Nationally, ecstasy was involved in, but not necessarily the cause of, eight deaths in 1998 and four deaths in 1999. This is compared with 110,640 alcohol-related deaths, 430,700 deaths attributed with smoking, 32,000 deaths due to adverse reactions to prescription drugs, 16,926 deaths due to reactions from licit and illicit drugs, and more than 30 deaths related to school violence.

Los Angeles Times - ECSTASY USE EXPANDS BEYOND CLUBS; STIFFER SENTENCES ORDERED (03/22/01)
Ecstasy, a drug once used primarily at nightclubs, has expanded beyond the club scene and is being sold at high schools, on the street and even at coffee shops in some cities, the White House drug policy office said Wednesday. The availability of ecstasy has increased dramatically, and more blacks and Latinos are using the drug, the agency said in its biannual report that chronicles trends in drug use.

TIME Europe - It's All the Rave - (03/20/00)
Ecstasy, once a drug confined to the club scene, is flooding many high schools and universities. Here's why

TLC-DPF - MDMA ('Ecstasy') Research -When Science and Politics Collide (03/03/00)
Presentation made by Julie Holland, M.D., at a seminar held at TLC New York City, Thursday, March 30th, 2000. A comprehensive history of ecstasy. Scientific classification and description of effects and medical effects as known.

Club Drugs and Real Crime

Los Angeles, CA
Contra Costa County Times - AS ECSTASY USE SPREADS, DRUG DEALER VIOLENCE RISES (06/24/01)
The Club Drug Has Broken Ethnic Barriers; High School Students Report Increasing Exposure. It was finding an Israeli drug dealer dead in a car trunk at Los Angeles International Airport 18 months ago that gave the authorities here the first hint that the club drug ecstasy was becoming a serious problem. He had been killed by two hit men sent from Israel, said officials of the Drug Enforcement Administration.

Winnipeg, Canada
Winnipeg Sun - Rave (or rock?) Drug Record (06/27/01)
Local DJ Among 4 Arrested In $60,000 Ecstasy Bust. A well-known radio personality has been arrested in the largest ecstasy bust in Winnipeg history. Power 97's Joanne Cochrane and three men were charged with a variety of drug-related offences Monday morning after police seized nearly $60,000 in ecstasy from a home on Country Club Boulevard. Cochrane, 29, a co-host on the popular rock station's 2 p.m.-to-7 p.m. show

USA Today - ECSTASY DRUG TRADE TURNS VIOLENT (05/16/01)
The Rave Culture's 'Peace And Love' Pill Bloodies The Suburbs As Dealers Battle For Turf And Profits. Ecstasy, the "peace and love" drug of the rave party culture, is igniting violent turf wars among drug dealers that authorities say resemble the battles over crack cocaine that devastated urban areas in the 1980s.

News Journal - I-95 STOP UNCOVERS ECSTASY (04/20/01)
30 Pounds Of Drug Valued At $1.7 Million Found In Car. An Interstate 95 traffic stop netted Delaware State Police nearly 30 pounds of the club drug Ecstasy last week, police said Thursday The drugs are valued at $1.7 million.

Copyright © 2001-2004 Electronic Music Defense and Education Fund - EM:DEF.  All Rights Reserved.
Continued operation of this project made possible by a grant from
the Drug Policy Reform Fund of the Tides Foundation.