Sex, Drugs, and EDM: how common is sneaking drugs into festivals?

by: John Flynn Dec 26, 2017

Sneaking your MDMA into Ultra using a rotisserie chicken? Sounds like quite the stretch, but a recent study conducted by the Boca Raton-based Take 5 Media Group reports that this situation is indeed a reality.

The company conducted the study for a behavioral health treatment facility, Florida House Experience, in Deerfield Beach — which resides less than an hour outside of Miami. Florida House Experience works with such local universities as University of Miami, Florida International University, and Barry University to provide rehabilitation, addiction counseling, and mental health services to patients.

Their aim with this investigative study was to find out what kinds of drugs were being purchased at music festivals, what they were being cut with, who was doing the selling, and how users were sneaking them in.

Here are the winners:

As far as sneaking in goodies to music festivals, underwear was the most popular method of transfer; although, rotisserie chickens and prosthetic limbs were also noted as used methods.

One of the studies most disconcerting conclusions was that most drug users — 63 percent — obtained their substance(s) of choice off a one-time encounter with a stranger.

Even worse are the “unidentifiable additions of unmarked and sometimes dangerous substances,” reports Take 5 in the study. “Beyond being unrecognizable to the naked eye, these cutting agents are sometimes significantly stronger than the drugs they’re labeled as, creating deadly consequences.”

Take 5 reports that jam festivals such as Summercamp or High Sierra revealed 89 percent of attendees reporting they’d been offered illicit substances at jam festivals. EDM came in as a close second, with 83 percent of attendees reporting being offered drugs.

All of that drug use clouds the frontal lobe and likely causes spikes in the libido of horny festival goers, as Take 5 reports that nearly one in four attendees admitted to having unprotected sex after using drugs at EDM Festivals.