For this week’s blog, I am choosing to write about the rave culture. Raves are where ecstasy is mainly taken, and I am interested to find background information about it.

Raves originated in Europe in the 1980's where ecstasy was slowly being to be abused. A rave was when thousands of people gathered around techno music and they were held either outside or in large warehouses. After a short amount of time, raves were then moved into established clubs and to the police were known as "Drug Taking Festivals." Later in the 1980's, raves moved into the United States with big entertainers and promoters. In the mid 1900's, raves were spoken of in chat rooms heavily, and it was known that dance clubs had an extreme growth and the usage of ecstasy had increased. People found out that they didn't have to be on drugs to go to raves, but then things like rape, property damage, drug sales and pharmaceutical division took place.

Raves are advertised by fliers, papers, telephone, radio, the internet, and some audio stores. They advertise the headliners, which are dj's, bands, and/or groups. At a rave, it includes loud techno, huge bass speakers, psychedelic lights, videos, smoke, fog, fire, and sparks. A rave usually consists of a large dance room, or maybe more depending on how big the capacity is, which is accompanied with a "cool down room" as well as a VIP room. If you want to be a part of the VIP room, you have to buy more expensive tickets. Curfew restrictions have changed due to raves being held at random times such as 6:00pm-4:00am. Odd things kids use at raves are: Vicks vapor rub, menthol nasal inhalers, eye drops, surgical masks, glow sticks (because peoples' eyes shake when they're on ecstasy and seeing the lights intensify the feeling) lollipops, pacifiers (because people grind their teeth, and if they don't want to chew up their mouth, pacifiers are in need) water (it's easily to get dehydrated) and drug testing kits (because people go there sober looking for drugs, and they don't want to buy bunks ones.)

MDMA usage has increased so much it's inevitable to try to cease it. The security and police at raves have ignored the drug use and mainly worry about the distribution of drugs, and weapons.
The only way people get caught at raves is if the police have some suspicion they're selling drugs or they see someone take a pill or inject something into them selves.

I'm glad I researched this because it's really interesting and if I knew how to put a video of one up here I would. Raves sound extremely out of hand and dangerous.




"DEA Ongoing Programs, Shoulder-to-Shoulder Press Conferences, Raves." PE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd" Welcome to the United States Department of Justice. Ed. U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. Web. 16 Dec. 2009. .

Annotated Bibliography

1. Duhaime, Lloyd. "Police Station Cocaine." Duhaime.org - Bringing Legal Information To The World. Web. 24 Oct. 2009. http://duhaime.org/LegalResources/PoliceStation/LawArticle-51/Cocaine.aspx.

This article informs people about the drug cocaine. The first paragraph shows how it's made and where it comes from while the rest of the article tells what cocaine does to your body, if it's dangerous and how your body becomes addicted to it. It shows a picture of cocaine, and has other links that answer questions asked about cocaine.

The information that is concealed in this article is very descriptive and easy to read. I'm sure all most of high school students know a lot of this information because kids talk and things get around. I think the text is more meant for adults trying to inform their kids about the dangers of drugs.

I used the information in this article that shows what cocaine does to your body as well as how you can become addicted to it. I think those are the most important pieces in this text and the parts that people would be interested in reading and learning more about.


2. "Ecstasy Side Effects." Ecstasy Effects and Addiction Information. Ed. Get Help Now. Web. 14 Dec. 2009. .

This is a website that informs you about all the side effects and dangers of ecstasy. It's also a "get help" website, and if you need help from the addiction they have a contact link to get help. Who ever wrote this website strongly believes that ecstasy will kill you and if you know someone who's doing it, to contact them so they can help you help them.

It's all really good information because it's strongly believed in. And when something is strongly believed in, they have convincing statistics and tactics to get you on their side. This is a great website to refer too and I have read it over and over again to get information for various blogs.

As I said up above I used most all of the information on this site, it's easy to read and very credible. It's all really helpful and I'm glad I found this website for my blog. I would tecommend this site to people wanting to know anything about ecstasy.



3."Hallucinogens: LSD, Peyote, Psilocybin, and PCP - InfoFacts." National Institute on Drug Abuse - The Science of Drug Abuse and Addiction. Ed. National Institutes Of Health. Web. 24 Oct. 2009. http://www.drugabuse.gov/Infofacts/hallucinogens.html.



This article holds the information upon 4 types of hallucinogens. It tells you exactly what they are, how they're abused, how they affect the brain, how they affect your health, and the treatments that are available. At the bottom it even shows you a chart of 8th, 10th, and 12th graders in 2008 that have tried hallucinogens to give you an idea of how high schooler's abuse drugs.


This article was very informational because even the things I didn't wasn't looking for, I found out. Although the vocabulary was more advanced so I had to look up a lot of the words to understand the text. Therefore, this article wasn't mean for younger kids and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone younger than a senior.

I used bits and parts of this article in one of my blogs, but I haven't needed the information for anything else. The way I used it in my blog I think it puts a picture in people's mind. I also put all the harder words in lameness terms so it was more readable since my peers were the ones reading it.


4. "Herbal Ecstasy." District Attorney Home Page. Ed. Dever DA. Web. 11 Dec. 2009. .

This website holds everything and anything about ecstasy. It's the Denver DA so all of their information is credible. It had some information that the other websites didn't, it shares what the consequences are if you get caught with it, and the different consequences for different ages. On a couple different pages it displays what ecstasy looks like, and explains how it can be all shapes, sizes and color.

The information on the website was easy to read and understand, I feel like all policemen know this information and are taught it if they are in the drug area. They have to know what it looks like if they search someone or their cars so they know it's not candy, it's ecstasy.

I used this site many many times for different articles, various things I needed to find for blogs I found in this website. I like this website because it's easy to understand and very helpful. I also like knowing the consequences so I can warn the friends I have, that having one pill can be 5 years in jail and that it's not worth it.




5. "Methamphetamine, crystal meth effects at SAMHSA's NCADI." Drug and alcohol abuse, treatment, prevention at SAMHSA's National Clearinghouse for Alcohol and Drug Information. Ed. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Web. 24 Oct. 2009. http://ncadi.samhsa.gov/GOVPUBS/PHD861/.

This article gives more information that kids would be interested in. It gives the street names of meth, how it's used, the side effects, and how it destroys your body. It doesn't give too much information on each of those things, but it gives you enough to scare you away from the drug. The last part talks about how you know if someone you know is giving meth and the way they should be acting.

It offers a lof of street names, which is really good for adults so they here one of the code names from kids they know exactly what they're talking about. Some of the things it does to your body are disgusting, which makes people not want to do it, so I believe the scare tactic is very useful. I think they could've added a little more information for each topic discussed about meth, to show a more deadly affect.

The main thing I grabbed from this article was the street names, but other than that I didn't take much information from this article. I think more adults should be informed about them, because they are used all the time. I would recommend this article to all adults and other kids who think their friends are users of meth, because it's simple and easy to read.

6. "NIDA - Research Report Series - MDMA (Ecstasy) Abuse." National Institute on Drug Abuse - The Science of Drug Abuse and Addiction. Ed. National Institutes Of Health. Web. 24 Oct. 2009. http://www.drugabuse.gov/researchreports/MDMA/MDMA4.html.


This article is all about MDMA and what parts of the brain it affects and the after effects after the usage of ecstasy. It compares studies done on animals and humans with a dosage of MDMA. It shares with you the recorded results of the brain and the behavior from both the human and the animal. The last thing this article had in it was other kinds of drugs people tend to do that have similar effects as ecstasy.



This article was extremely helpful because of its statistics and facts about the brain. It's very extreme when it talks about how each part of your brain is affected and it can have a dramatic affect on readers if they are users, because not only is the information true but it's scary. This article is convicing and it's a good source to refer too.



I found this article very helpful in what I was looking for, and this information could easily be included in a health class because of it's statistics. Others who read this article would know a lot more about the deleterious effects of ecstasy and know the different areas of your brain that it effects.

Deadmau5
Virgin Records America, Inc.
150 Fifth Avenue
New York, New York 10011-4311

105 Shadowood Lane
Carbondale, CO 81623
Kelly Fisher


Dear Deadmau5:

I’m a senior at Roaring Fork High School and I’m writing to you because the past two months I’ve been learning about ecstasy. I know you play techno music and have concerts that kids come to rolling ecstasy and other various drugs. I want to get the point across to teens that ecstasy usage can lead to severe brain damage and I thought if you announced it, people would follow your thoughts since you are someone they definitely look up too. One of the main appeals of ecstasy is loud techno music because it increases the level of happiness by so much. A lot of them were also diffident, and they like the fact that when they go to raves they're loved by everyone and it increases their confidence. Studies shown in 2000 found that 4.3% of
8thgraders, 7.3% of 10th graders, and 11.0% of 12 graders have all tried it. Since then our world has had more drug out breaks, and I know that those numbers have highly increased. Teenagers live for the moment and don’t think about long term effects which are what matters in life. Once one of my friends started doing ecstasy, then all of them got into it and now they rave every week. I don’t want to see them enervating their bodies and going down hill because of a stupid addiction. I want to grow old and I don’t want to be going to their funeral at age 30. If I can get someone teens look up to and appreciate to have a strong opinion against ecstasy I think we could really make a difference. If you have the time I’d love to hear from you but if not best wishes, I love your music sober.

Sincerely,

Kelly Fisher

This graph shows the average use of ecstasy for boys and girls in grades 8th, 10th, and 12th during 1999-2000. It shows that boys used it more in 8th grade than girls as well as 10th grade. Although 12th grade girls used it more than 12th grade boys. This is really interesting to me, and I'm not sure why it the growth of ecstasy usage changed for girl in their senior year. If we get a blog that's pretty open to what we wanna write about, I'd like to investigate why this is.

This data is complete and would make people wonder more about senior girls after looking at this graph. This graph could definitely throw someone off if they just assumed boys did more ecstasy than girls like I did. I learned that you shouldn't judge a group of people because of their gender, race of anything you should get to someone for the kind of person they are. They could be churlish and a drug addict, but you'd never guess that because they dressed nicely, or they could look innocent, be diffident, and do great in school and also be a drug addict. I'm sure most of the girls that use ecstasy were good students and weren't obvious about their bad decisions.



Source

"Google Image Result for http://www.drugabuse.gov/NIDA_notes/NNVol16N2/MDMA.gif." Google Images. Ed. The National Institute on Drug Abuse. Web. 24 Nov. 2009.

Whats New?

Examining The Effects of Ecstasy Use In Young Adults

I found an article called Examining the Effects of Ecstasy Use In Young Adults on google, and the I chose it because it relates to what I've been learning about ecstasy. I've wanted to know what it does to your brain and how it turns kids diffident after they're happy, and this article talks about researchers wanting to find out the same information.

The researchers in this article are conducting an experiment on young adults to see how ecstasy use leads to brain damage. One of the facts in this article states that, "seretonin is a key neurotransmitter in the brain that is known for regulating mood and for playing a role in cognitive functions such as memory. Low levels of seretonin have been linked to anxiety and depression." I've already learned this and this is just a source to back up that thought. Another fact is that ecstasy is a chemically enhanced drug that is part hallucinogen and part stimulant that affects the seretonin system, which is very believable.

There's one opinion in this article I highly agree with. One of the researchers said,"Ecstasy use continues to be a major public health problem among adolescents and young adults." I believe ecstasy use continues to grow because none of the users are educated what it does to their brains and body. I think if there was a set agreement between researchers and scientists about the damage it causes and then posted on the internet, people would have a different outlook on it. Maybe not, but kids think it's not deleterious when it is. Researcher Medina also states, "It's not used all that often, but it can cause a lot of damage." I personally don't think she should be stating this without all the research, I know it's a man made drug and it does cause damage like every other drug but it might not be as severe as she thinks.

After reading this article, none of the information was really new to me considering we've been doing so much research on our topic. I would be interested to see if they follow up on this study to see what they find out, because every scientist has a different opinion, and I think if could be extremely beneficial to my blog if I determine what harmful effects ecstasy has on the human body.

Source :]

Fuller, Dawn. "Examining The Effects Of Ecstasy Use In Young Adults: UC Researchers Awarded Federal Grant." Medical News Today: Health News. Web. 20 Nov. 2009. .

Vocabulary

-Kids that do ecstasy are usually very churlish on the come down the next day because they are angry and depressed. The drug maximized their serention and once that's gone, all the feelings left like anger and depression are then maximized.

-People that deal ecstasy never really stay in one place they usually circumnavigate the world, because they don't want to get to well known by people, and they want to make new customers.

-Ecstasy is a deleterious effect on people's body, because it's made with nasty chemicals that should never be put in your body.

-At raves, kids are anything but diffident because ecstasy makes them friendly and wanting to make friends with strangers.

-At a rave people tend to be very feckless and lose their cell phones, or a lot of money because they aren't paying attention the only thing they are doing is dancing.

-If the cops have suspicion that kids are selling ecstasy, kids tend to have a lot of hubis because they don't want to be nice and give them too much information.

-Kids on ecstasy aren't jejune because they want to tell everyone their life story, and they want to party and dance.

-A lot of drug dealers that sell ecstasy have incontrovertible sale prices, because that's how they gain profit.

-If a women that's pregnant takes ecstasy, it will destroy some of the babies chromosome.

-Ecstasy enervates your bones after taking too much of it.

I read two articles that argued two different sides of ecstasy. The first article that I read is called A Worry For Ravers: One night of ecstasy could cause brain damage by: Mary Carmichael, and her argument was against ecstasy. She talks about two neurologists who are doing experiments with monkeys by injecting MDMA into them, and they are trying to prove if it harms monkeys it'll harm humans as well. They stated, "If ecstasy could eat away at a monkey, it could do the same to us." Neurologist George Ricaurte is convinced that only after one night of taking ecstasy, it causes brain damage in monkeys. The studies and test done on the monkeys showed it killed the brain cells that produce dopamine. "Dopamine deficiency is linked to cognitive and psychiatric problems, which may partially explain why users feel sad and sluggish after a night out," Ricaurte said. He went on to explain how dopamine deficiency can lead to Parkinson's disease, which is where you can't control some muscle movements. His main conclusion to his article is that monkeys are similar to us, and if it deleterious to monkeys, it will have that same effect on humans.

The second article I read was called Ecstasy: A possible new role for a banned club drug by: Eve Conant. Her theory is that using MDMA on cancer patients could be the cure to confronting their fears that come with the end of life. Doctors can prescribe antidepressants, but for some it's not enough, which is why using a more powerful drug could be the answer. "Harvard doctors plan to start testing MDMA in 12 terminally ill cancer patients with moderate or severe anxiety as soon as the DEA grants approval," Conant stated. Conant continued to say how is South Carolina; studies have already taken place on cancer patients using MDMA. "Our hypothesis is that MDMA lowers fear and increases trust, a combination that allows patients to revisit trauma in a therapeutic way," says principal psychiatrist Michael Mithoefer. It helps cancer patients, rape victims, and anyone traumatized compromise with themselves and cope with the severe problem that attacked them. He also thinks that it helps people express their fears more openly and not keep it bundled up inside. "I thought of MDMA as the rave drug," says Shuster (another psychiatrist). "But the more I read, the more I realized this was a scientific question worth asking."

These are two extremely two different articles, one stating how ecstasy causes brain damage, and the other stating how ecstasy could be the new cure for cancer patients, rape victims, or anyone that has been traumatized. Both of these articles could convince someone and make their decision go either way.


Sources
Carmichael, Mary. "Gale Cengage Product Failure." GaleNet. Web. 13 Nov. 2009. .

Contant, Eve. "Gale Cengage Product Failure." GaleNet. Web. 13 Nov. 2009. .