Turns out ecstasy was to blame in the death of 23-year-old Anthony Mata, of Santa Clara, who attended POP2010: The Dream at the Cow Palace in May, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. Initially, city health officials blamed tainted drugs sold at the event for Mata’s death and sickening nine people. The death of Mata and then 25-year-old Trung Nguyen (whose cause of death has not yet been confirmed) prompted calls for a ban of raves at the state-owned venue. But as we reported previously, such a ban might make overdoses more common by pushing events underground, where organizers are less likely to take as many precautions as Berkeley promoter Skills DJ Workshop did for POP2010. A better tactic might be to increase drug education by inviting groups like DanceSafe, which hands out free information on how to take drugs safely. However, a federal law that increased punishment for ecstasy use and those who hold events where ecstasy is used has scared promoters from inviting such groups to its events in fear of being viewed as encouraging or being aware of ecstasy use.
