Raves: What Responsibility Do Parents Have To Keep Underage Teens Away From Parties?

By Dennis Romero Tue., Dec. 7 2010 at 6:02 AM

Categories: Raves

Timothy Norris

Ravers at last June's Electric Daisy Carnival.

Raves have been in the news a lot this year, as much for the clusterfuckian conditions created by greedy promoters as for the behavior of weekend warriors.

Over the weekend we can all be thankful that a 14-year-old who went missing after attending a rave in San Bernardino was found safe Monday.

But why was a 14-year-old allowed to go to an electronic dance music event known for attracting MDMA users?

Ayana Lopez's mom, 46-year-old Ruby Lopez, told the Weekly, "I was ignorant. I didn't know how bad it is. I will never let her to go a place like that again."

Lopez had attended Winterfresh, an event originally scheduled to happen near downtown L.A. Saturday until the venue -- Center City Studios -- pulled the plug last-minute.

It ended up split among two venues over two days in San Bernardino. And still it appears the promoters couldn't accommodate ticket-holders, many of whom were turned away as the rave filled to capacity Saturday.

Of course, that's nothing compared to the 160,000-strong Electric Daisy Carnival in June, which sparked this whole discussion about the safety of raves when a 15-year-old girl died from an ecstasy overdose following her attendance at the party.

Her death, and some chaos as young people crashed gates between the event's different zones, inspired the L.A. Coliseum Commission to impose an 18-and-older rule for parties at its publicly-run venues.

Winterfresh was billed as "all-ages."

Our commenter of the day, Rene Arteaga, blames L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and L.A. County for the party's move from L.A. (false and false), but he gave us pause when he wrote this (in gangtsa caps, no less):

POLITICIANS AND PARENTS WANT TO BLAME "RAVES" FOR KIDS DYING AND MISSING BECAUSE THEY CANT OWN UP TO THEIR IRRESPONSIBILITY FOR BEING TERRIBLE ADULTS/PARENTS.
STOP BREAKING THE CURFEW LAW.

STOP SAYING YOU DONT KNOW WHAT YOUR KIDS ARE GETTING INTO, WHEN IN FACT SOME OF YOU (PARENTS) ARE THE ONES PAYING FOR THEIR TICKETS AND GO AS FAR AS DROPPING THEM OFF AT THE EVENTS.

GROW THE FUCK UP AND TAKE CARE OF YOUR CHILDREN THAT YOU "SUPPOSEDLY" CARE SO MUCH ABOUT.

What do you think?