Drug Culture In Hard Dance Music – Australia and The Netherlands.

Don’t lie, you’ve all seen (and laughed at) the video footage from Thunderdome pre-circa 2000 that features thousands of munted attendees flaunting their dilated pupils, wobbling jaws and uncontrollable gabbering. For many decades, illicit drugs have constituted a major aspect of electronic dance music; they’re taken religiously at festivals and used either as a pick-me-up or a substance to accentuate the good times.

After living in Sweden and The Netherlands for a year and a half, I recently returned to Australia and to my dismay, I was greeted by endless streams of sad news regarding drug overdoses and deaths at renowned music festival Stereosonic. Then it hit me. The Netherlands and Australia are two of the biggest countries when it comes to Hardstyle in terms of the fan-base and amount of events held, yet the drug culture of these two countries are poles apart. It wasn’t until I experienced festivals and events abroad that I realised these huge differences and although it’s technically the same music scene, the whole ‘vibe’ is entirely different.

On the recent topic of pushing Australia to be more progressive and open-minded toward harm minimisation programs, I thought I’d explore some of the biggest differences between both rave scenes in regards to drug and alcohol use.

Comparison: Australia and The Netherlands

First and foremost, the biggest difference is the open-mindedness of the Dutch government and the availability of harm minimisation services like Unity and Celebrate Safe. Drug testing is also available at many festivals in The Netherlands which is something that’s vital, especially for foreigners who may buy drugs off somebody they don’t know or trust. These services are so useful because they take active steps in ensuring that party-goers are safe and doesn’t ruin the fun for anybody. The forward-thinking Dutch are aware that drugs are inevitable and that no amount of police presence or drug legislations will actually stop people from taking drugs.

Attending countless events in The Netherlands, I religiously observed the drug and alcohol environment at hard dance events and the culture around it and one thing I couldn’t help but notice was that the bars were packed – a lot more packed then they are in Australia. At Knockout last weekend, the bar was almost empty for a large portion of the night. Saying that partygoers drink more in The Netherlands is merely an assumption, this is what my eyes saw at many indoor and outdoor festivals and is an interesting point to later explore in research. Maybe the price of alcohol has something to do with this too; at $12 for one can of watered-down Smirnoff (equating to 8 euro), it’s no wonder why Aussies may be drinking less.

Another personal comparison that I came about is that when it comes to drugs, the legislations of both governments are very different. The government and police in Australia come down on partygoers with an iron fist; the penalty simply drinking a beer on the train is hundreds of dollars and getting caught with illicit drugs can potentially ruin ones entire future. For example, many of you would have heard rumours of people getting caught with a few pills in The Netherlands and being asked to “throw them out” as opposed to Australia, where you would be taken into custody immediately and risk going to jail over a few pills. The presence of ridiculous laws, prudent members of parliament and overwhelming amounts of police and drug-detection dogs in Australia is borderline ridiculous and from a reverse psychology perspective, it probably just makes teenagers and young adults more likely to say “fuck the police” and rebel anyway.

Next, a mentionable difference is the mind-set of the people themselves. Yes, the Dutch enjoy partying and they like to accentuate the good times with various substances, however in Australia, the common mentality is to get as ‘munted’ or ‘cooked’ as possible, sadly sometimes to the point of overdose. Many who have travelled to attend events in The Netherlands have seen it for themselves; of course you have those cooked French people who blast Speedcore for the entire weekend in the campsite, but overall there’s no real ‘competition’ to be the most fucked up person on the festival grounds.

The last comparison I will make is the way that large-scale media and the government handle deaths as a result of drug use. If somebody dies at an Australian music festival, the oppressive government will suddenly start pushing laws to shut down these festivals or up the amount of police and sniffer dogs. It’s only been recently that the concept of drug testing has come into the minds of the media, something that should have been pushed years ago. In The Netherlands when the whole ‘white heroin scenario’ occurred, education was provided as partygoers were urged to NOT buy drugs off the streets and to test substances.

A step in the right direction:

Prior to last weekend’s Knockout Circuz, held in the Horden Pavillion in Sydney, organisers HSU (Harder Styles United) put up several messages on social media, urging attendees to take care of each other and seek medical help if they are not feeling well or see somebody who does not look well. Rather than putting out bombarding posts about drugs being illegal or injecting fear into the attendees, HSU took a step in the right direction and took on a harm minimisation approach instead, which is something that other organisers need to start doing.

Worldwide and on a local scale, the Hardstyle scene will always be a close-knit scene, closer than any other, so it’s important that despite all of the negative media it tends to get to stay positive and look after one another. Although the Australian government is doing fuck all to educate us and push us in the right direction, it’s up to us as individuals to begin educating ourselves, taking care of those around us and NOT aiming to be the most ‘cooked’ person in a venue.