UPDATE: This article was originally written under the context that G Jones' statement was a reaction to the Lost Lands' deaths. This was a misunderstanding, and the wording has been updated for clarification. Lost Lands 2018 did have harm reduction measures which G Jones is pushing more festivals to practice.
G Jones is one of the most exciting producers in the industry right now. He out of the box production style and dark wild sounds have quickly made him a fan favorite. This festival season has seen several deaths due to adulterated drugs being sold throughout events. This spike in overdoses and drug-related deaths has been a dark spot for our community and G Jones' has had enough.
G Jones took to Twitter to try and drum up support for more festivals to practice sound harm reduction. Organizations like The Bunk Police and DanceSafe routinely attend festivals and hand out testing kits. Many times due to insurance issues festivals decide to shut the charities down.
RAVE Act Backfires Entirely
This fear of legal action comes from a highly controversial and seriously flawed piece of legislation: The RAVE act. The bill was pushed through in hopes of shutting down illegal RAVES and reduce drug consumption at events. Unfortunately, and like many times before, the government's attempt at harm reduction has backfired thoroughly.
The RAVE act states that no gathering can have an area designed for the consumption of illegal substances. While the article in the bill is vague, testing sites can fall under that umbrella.
After deaths at both Lost Lands and Nocturnal Wonderland this past weekend, it is clear that we need to do something about adulterated drugs. Stay safe out there everyone.
contrary to popular belief , the RAVE act does NOT make it illegal for festivals to allow harm reduction groups to offer their services at their events, and furthermore according to @DanceSafe no event has ever been shut down for offering harm reduction pic.twitter.com/RndY2TCJLz
— G JONES (@gjonesbass) September 17, 2018