The summer concert season has arrived, but there are a number of dangers lurking amongst the music and the crowds that can lead to tragedy mainly for teens and young adults. A new analysis from ClickitTicket reviewed more than 200 fatalities at concerts since 1969 and about three-dozen were drug-related. C-E-O Jason O’Connor says the drugs used at concerts include cocaine, heroin, bath salts, meth and one of the most mentioned – M-D-M-A, also known as “ecstasy,” “Molly,” which can lead to hyperthermia.

“Often times, people become very dehydrated and they don’t realize what they’re doing to their body, because let’s say they’re at a concert and they’re dancing around and they’re taking this. They don’t notice that they’re thirsty. They don’t notice anything. And that’s when you start to get into
problems.” O’Connor also notes that there have been stories of bad batches of M-D-M-A, laced with dangerous chemicals. In addition to the drug-related deaths, the other leading causes of fatalities at concerts are stampedes, structural failures and violence.

While overdoses or deaths can happen at any music venue, O’ Connor points to festivals such as Bonnaroo, where there have been 10 fatalities over the past decade, at least half drug-related.
“And Phish shows do seem to have quite a bit of drugs there. That’s sort of an extension of the Grateful Dead and there were a lot of drugs in that culture. And then the other real big one that we talked about was EDM or electronic dance music.”

O’Connor says concert and festival promoters and organizers can’t ensure that all attendees are drug free, but they can take simple steps to make their events as safe as possible for young people including education, parent involvement and policing.

(Iowa News Service)

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Miss Nevada Nia Sanchez has been crowned Miss USA 2014. She has beat out 50 other contestants Sunday night in Louisiana. First runner-up was Miss North Dakota Audra Mari. Miss Iowa Carlyn Bradarich was one of the other runner ups in Baton Rouge. Bradarich got a second chance when the viewing audience gave her the most votes on Twitter.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — University of Iowa defensive back Nico Law is facing a criminal charge and consequences at school for fighting outside an Iowa City restaurant. Law, who will be a senior this fall, was cited for disorderly conduct after the incident at 1:45 a.m. Saturday. Police say the 21-year-old football player assaulted another man after that man argued with a woman who was with Law.

MEDIAPOLIS, Iowa (AP) — A string of nearly 60 burglaries since February has unnerved residents of the small Iowa town of Mediapolis. Des Moines County Sheriff Mike Johnstone tells The Burlington Hawk Eye the crimes are likely being committed by someone who lives in the area and needs cash, but the culprit has eluded capture.

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