The Vibe

They line up by the hundreds, hoping to make it inside to join in what kids call the feel-good “vibe.” “It’s all about love and unity,” says sixteen year old Johnny. Love, unity, and the vibe are just some of the words kids use to describe the rave subculture.

Raves are the nineties version of a kids dance party. The underground events started in the early eighties and have now gone mainstream. Kids now flock to record stores and malls to buy tickets to commercially sponsored raves which start late and last until the wee hours of the morning.

Parents often get a false sense of security expecting that since tickets are sold, party activities will be legal and well-supervised. But, it’s not just love and unity that make kids feel good at a rave.”

“There’s lots of drugs here, in case you didn‘t know that” says eighteen year old Allison, attending a rave for the first time. Party drugs like ecstasy are a mainstay of the rave scene and kids like Allison attend with the anticipation of being able to experiment. Allison says she has never tried ecstasy more commonly known as XTC. “But tonight, I might,” says Allison. Her first encounter at a rave may also be her first encounter with drugs.

What Parents Should Know

Raves are often held in legitimate places and are supervised by law enforcement. Still, some reporters have attended commercial raves held after-hours at private night clubs and staffed only by off duty police officers who look the other way after kids walk through the door.

Once inside, kids often buy, sell, and use drugs openly, particularly the less well-known party drugs like ecstasy, GHB, LSD, Special K, and PCP. Users go to extreme measures to get the best high. “You see people with the little dust masks on,” says seventeen year old Tracy. “They put Vicks mentholatum inside and the vapors like kick in the drug a little bit.”

In the atmosphere of love and unity, kids also pass drugs between strangers, often popping into their mouth whatever is offered. The result is kids often don’t know the potency and effects of what they are taking.

Avid ravers say the drug scene is overplayed and that a few bad kids give raves a bad name. Still, most admit that during a Rave drugs are very available and use is highly prominent.