New York City Music Festival Canceled After Two Drug-Related Deaths
Electric Zoo, a three-day electronic music festival in New York City, has been canceled after two attendees died and another four were hospitalized in intensive care after taking drugs at the festival.
Although causes of death have not been officially determined, both "appear to have involved the drug MDMA (ecstasy, or molly)," according to a NYC.gov press release. Last month a 21-year-old man died and dozens more were hospitalized after overdosing on molly at Paradiso, a music festival at The Gorge.
Promotors for the festival confirmed the cancelation on Twitter and said in a statement on Facebook, "The founders of Electric Zoo send our deepest condolences to the families of the two people who passed away this weekend. Because there is nothing more important to us than our patrons, we have decided in consultation with the New York City Parks Department that there will be no show today."
Popular EDM artists like Armin Van Buuren, Sebastian Ingrosso, Steve Aoki, Zedd and Diplo — who had hoped to break the world record for twerking at the festival — were all scheduled to perform today.
While ecstasy use has long gone hand in hand with electronic music, molly, supposedly a form of "pure" MDMA, is the most mainstream its ever been.
From New York Times style section pieces to Madonna's MDNA tour (the singer also kicked off a firestorm when she joined Avicii at Ultra, Miami's version of Electric Zoo, and asked the crowd if they had seen Molly), the drug is peaking in pop culture.
And it's not quite your parents' brown acid, either. According to Miami police, although molly is supposed to be "pure" MDMA, they commonly find it's actually methylone, a chemical found in bath salts.
For a great first-hand piece on today's EDM festivals, check out Rich Juzwiak's experience at last year's Electric Daisy Carnival.
[Image via Getty]