RAVE Act stifles expression, subculture

Hey, remember “Footloose,” that classic ’80s
flick in which city-boy Kevin Bacon moves to a small town where a
local minister had banned rock ‘n’ roll and dancing?
Remember how we laughed at the folly and thanked God nothing so
ignorant and restrictive of personal freedoms could happen in the
real freedom-filled United States?

Last Thursday the House and Senate passed the AMBER Alert
Network Act of 2003. Attached to the bill about child abduction,
however, was an updated version of Senator Joe Biden’s,
D-Del., 2002 bill, the Reducing Americans’ Vulnerability to
Ecstacy Act. The RAVE Act, introduced a year ago, provided expanded
powers to the current laws which make it illegal to maintain a
venue for the production and use of illegal drugs.

Under the proposed legislation, venues would no longer be
limited to permanent structures primarily used for drugs. Instead,
club owners, concert promoters and rave organizers could be
prosecuted for the drug use of third parties at their events even
if the promoters took steps to prevent drug use at those
events.

The RAVE Act is troublesome as an indicator of the
government’s drug policy stance, one that favors costly and
futile punitive measures over cheaper, safer, more helpful
strategies. What’s more concerning about this bill is the way
it targets, and essentially criminalizes, an entire subculture.

The rise of rave culture ““ and as a result electronic
dance music culture ““ has, from its beginning, been closely
linked with the increased use of ecstasy. Opponents of the
all-night, underground culture see it as nothing but a venue for
massive drug use and distribution; indeed, this is the official
position of the Drug Enforcement Agency.

But it is thanks to the rave scene that we enjoy the
sophistication and diversity of electronic music available today.
Trance, Drum ‘n’ Bass, Turntablism: all have roots in
rave culture.

Of course, the persecution of artistically viable musical scenes
that are perceived as counter-culture is nothing new. It’s
happened to jazz, rock and hip-hop. The frightening part about
what’s happening now is that it represents the first
organized effort to completely shut down a subculture and disallow
its primary venue of expression. We are realistically looking at a
situation where in a few months it may be difficult, if not
impossible, to go out dancing to electronic music.

Biden’s bill is a dangerous restriction of personal
freedoms. Next time you want to go out and party, check over your
shoulder: the Thought Police could be right around the corner.

Want to get involved? Visit www.drugpolicy.org. E-mail Crossen
at [email protected].