Sad news after the tragic events on Argentinian Time Warp. The local government has moved the law to ban all large-scale events in the country. While six families are grieving the deaths of their children and four more people are still in the hospital after an unknown substance overdose, the Buenos Aires Mayor Horacio Rodrigues Laretta stated that the city will no longer host any large-scale electronic music events. What’s good about the news is that according to the Mayor’s statement, the measure will remain in effect until there is a law to prevent drug abuse during those events. That means that the Argentinian government may allow drug testing as one of the measures to reduce the substance abuse death toll.
Meanwhile, the local youth and promoters are devastated by the law, which will dramatically affect the electronic scene in the city. This reminds us of the 1994 ruling of the UK government, which was targeting the rave culture. They went very far and prohibited gatherings of more than to people on land, more than six cars gathering, prohibited raves completely. It came to an absurd when a helicopter and a riot van were sent to shut down a birthday barbecue with 15 attendants. The UK youth gathered to protest the bill and stand up for their right to party, have fun and travel around the country.
Then, 40 000 ravers, squatters, travellers, eco-activists, gathered on one of three major demonstrations.
Argentina probably won’t see the similar events, as the Buenos Aires government didn’t forbid partying, but we will see how far this will go. What is “large scale events” from their point of view?
And then again, drug testing is a crucial step to protect the youth. It will save more lives than a law to forbid raves.
The drug-abuse death rate in Argentina is relatively low if compared to other countries, but we assume, those deaths don’t all happen on raves. The most deadly drug in Buenos Aires is a side-product of cocaine manufacturing, which is called Paco. It is a mixture of chemicals with, most commonly, sulphuric acid, kerosene, rat poison and in some cases, crashed glass.
It costs about 3 pesos for a hit, gives a constant, few-second high and immediately starts to kill you. It affects the front particle of the brain, which is responsible for our personality, our sense of right and wrong, and makes a person aggressive and uncontrollable, because the only thing the addict wants is another hit. And he needs about 100 a day, because he cannot live without it.
That’s just one of the dangerous substances, travelling the streets of Buenos Aires. One of them killed six people under age of 25 on Time Warp. It’s time to save lives.
