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Rave ActThe RAVE Act is a bill passed by the 107th US Congress, introduced by Senator Joe Biden. While its announced intent is to stem the distribution of controlled substances (hence its acronym, 'Reducing Americans' Vulnerability to Ecstasy'), opponents accuse that the bill unfairly depicts "rave culture" as so inseparable from "drug culture" as to legitimize the former as a target of drug enforcement. The Act is considered by many to be evidence of a "moral panic" regarding raves. These opponents argue that the Act not only fails to distinguish between the most illegally and the most legally conducted raves, it actually twists the actions of rave organizers who try to keep their gatherings legal into evidence of their culpability. The Act's text refers to "[rave promoters who] even go so far as to hire off-duty, uniformed police officers to patrol outside of the venue to give parents the impression that the event is safe"; it does not address the fact that hiring off-duty police officers for security is a practice common to many social gatherings, or the possibility that rave organizers might be hiring such security not just to create an appearance of safety but to actually provide a safer environment. Even worse in the eyes of many is what they see as the Act's attempt to criminalize and discourage harm reduction measures. The 'Offenses' section of the bill introduces language making it a violation to "profit from [any] place for the purpose of [...] using a controlled substance". This section immediately follows the 'Findings' section, whose point 6 is: - Because rave promoters know that Ecstasy causes the body temperature in a user to rise and as a result causes the user to become very thirsty, many rave promoters facilitate and profit from flagrant drug use at rave parties or events by selling over-priced bottles of water and charging entrance fees to 'chill-rooms' where users can cool down.
Opponents argue that under the interpretations embedded in this language, if rave organizers accept the likelihood that some ravers will take Ecstasy no matter whether it is condoned or discouraged, they must face the choice of knowing it will happen and not making any preparations for it, making harm reduction measures such as chill-out rooms available but operating them at a loss, or making harm reduction measures available and facing the prospect of being prosecuted for them.
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