'420 Festival' Rave in Southern California Called Out by Narconon For its Drug Undertones

By Dennis Romero Wed., Apr. 20 2011 at 8:01 AM

Categories: Raves

420 Festival happens Saturday.

Ah, 420, the stoner's holiday, especially here in Southern California.

Time to roll one, kick back, and blow doughnuts.

It also brings us the annual 420 Festival, a rave that this weekend finds its home near Irvine Lake in Orange County.

Fair enough, except the Debbie Downers at Narconon are dissing the Saturday party.

Here's part of the statement the group released this week:

Starting about four years ago, 420 has taken on a different meaning as enterprising music promotion companies began parlaying modest 420 gatherings lasting a few minutes into massive Rave music festivals lasting from dusk to dawn, attended by 10,000 plus ravers. Another change, the drug involved was no longer cannabis; it was ecstasy - far more lucrative, far more tenacious and far, far more devastating in its effects.

True that. But still, there will be plenty of weed-smoking ravers at the event, and we mean that in the best possible way.

Narconon drug-prevention specialist Bobby Wiggins says:

The problem ecstasy presents is unpredictable overdose on a drug that is used by dealers to lure the unwary into addiction to even harder substances.

Ah, the gateway drug. From energy drinks to alcohol to weed to ecstasy to ... antidepressants?

But seriously, we admire the 420 fest for at least having the balls to be upfront about its, er, cultural inspiration. Not like those events at the L.A. Coliseum and Sports Arena that claim to be just another concert while hundreds of young people end up in the hospitals for ecstasy overdoses.

So enjoy. It's practically legal. Just don't end up hooked on Wellbutrin.

Tags:

420, 420 Festival, ecstasy, Irvine, marijuana, narconon, Orange County, raves

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Crunkmasterflex

dennis romero is a biased douche, all his articles are a joke

Gerritreds

Fuck 420 festival. There were signs posting that there will be no pot smoking allowed, ruggt next to a promotional collective poster recomending marijuana i stayed for maybe 45 minutes before i left. What a waste of money.

FungFoo

OH come on, a little pot never hurt anyone now did it?

www.total-privacy.int.tc

Brandt Hardin

Wish I were there! Oh man what an event! Check out my list of the Top 10 Stoner Movies of all time so you know what to watch tonight! You can read the list on my artist's blog at http://dregstudiosart.blogspot...

Peggy

The horrible fact is these are dangerous drugs. Kids deserve to be warned.

GardenGirl

1 Like

Actually, Peggy, cannabis is actually one of the safest, least toxic substances on God's green earth. Can you cite specific studies and discuss what specific health risks cannabis has? Even one death from cannabis overdose? *crickets chirp*

Here's a handy illustration of the relative dangers of cannabis versus any pill form drug, prescription or OTC. If one person has a bottle of pills, and another person has an eighth of weed, and they both try to consume all of what's in front of them, the person with the pills - any pills, mind you, Tylenol, Adderall, Oxycontin, Aspirin, Ibuprofen - will probably be dead or in the hospital with their stomach getting pumped while the cannabis user maybe wants to take a nap or eat Funyuns at worst.

Thanks for playing though! Next time try to have some substance and not just vague fearmongering.

kimwalker

Narconon nor Dennis depict weed as a deadly drug. E Pills on the otter hand can be fatal. I know several people who mixed such Pills with weed and can never smoke again because it makes them have a serotonin crash or hallucination flashbacks. Way too many E pill droppers end up on heavy drugs or anti depressants.

Jeff Ryan of Motive events and his "lets take drugs" business sidekick DJ Reza are wrong for creating the event. Honestly it's like Quran burning motivation for the anti drug people. Get ready for super media frenzy like non other!

GardenGirl

Fair enough, but don't lump in cannabis with street pharmaceuticals or prescription drugs when crusading about the 'dangers of drugs'. I have not heard of that serotonin crash issue, but it's worth being cautious if you've already fried your brain on the heavy stuff. The root problem there, though, is the E, and not the weed. A combination of bad street chemistry and lousy set & setting is a recipe for disaster.

Even E has its uses therapeutically for certain psych applications, but you'll never see those routes being taken while it's a black market Schedule I drug. Instead we just keep our heads in the sand, and outlaw even scientific research into it. And when kids get in trouble they don't get the medical attention they might need because they don't want to get busted. So we get all the bad (if they want it, they will find it) and very little of the good.

It's way past time to stop spending billions on weed enforcement, that is unless you are on the payroll of the Drug Employment Agency.