Drugs The Focus Of Fulton County’s Music Festival Prep

Festivals in the same vein have recently made national news for cases of drug overdoses and even deaths, a perception TomorrowWorld project director Shawn Kent said he’s aware of and trying to combat.

“That’s another reason why this festival is a 21-plus festival,” Kent said. “We want to put a little message out there to people that it really isn’t about raving anymore.”

The dance music scene has long been associated with drugs like Ecstasy and Molly, a more concentrated form of MDMA, the active ingredient in the former. But earlier this month, officials in New York said Molly claimed two lives at Electronic Zoo, a similar festival. A Molly overdose was also the expected cause in deaths in both Boston and Washington, D.C.  

“To say [an overdose] is not going to happen, I can’t say that,” said Jack Butler, deputy chief of Fulton County Fire and Rescue, “but to say we are prepared if it does, yes we are.”

Butler said there will be more than 40 paramedics and EMTs; four medical stations, two of which will function as “mini hospitals”; and an on-call doctor on festival grounds to address any emergencies.

“The idea here is for the event to be able to treat any minor situation of anything from dehydration up to that drug overdose,” Butler said, though he adds ambulances will be on site in case more medical attention is needed.

TomorrowWorld prohibits drugs, and security will search festival goers at the entrance.

The Fulton County Police Department said it paired with festival coordinators to place 450 private security and county officials around the festival. The department wouldn’t comment on whether undercover officers would be stationed within the festival, though it said no uniform officers would be on the grounds except in emergency cases.

TomorrowWorld also prompted a statement from the Atlanta Field Office of the Federal Drug Enforcement Agency addressing the use of Molly.

“Most partygoers may plan to attend this dance festival purely for the dancing and musical experience, but other attendees, like unlawful designer drug distributors, may have a more menacing agenda of selling these dangerous substances and profiting behind the cover of bright lights and pulsating music,” Harry S. Sommers, the special agent in charge of the DEA Atlanta Field Division, said in a statement. “This is why DEA is proactively alerting all attendees and their parents that synthetic designer drugs may be a part of the landscape and attendees should avoid using them at all costs.”

An organization called DanceSafe said on Facebook it will be at TomorrowWorld. The group describes itself as a “harm reduction” nonprofit that educates people on the safer use of drugs within the dance culture community.

Gaylord Lopez, director of the Georgia Poison Center, said when it comes to Molly, harm reduction is impossible.

“What you’re getting, in fact, is the same kind of thing you would do when you put your hand into a Halloween candy bag: You never know what you’re going to get,” Lopez said.

He said tests show Molly is often mixed with other amphetamines, LSD and caffeine, which can sometimes result in a lethal combination.

DanceSafe could not be reached for comment about the upcoming festival.

TomorrowWorld ends Sunday.