Electric Forest Festival Death a Result of Molly

A volunteer at the Electric Forest Festival in Michigan has become one of the most recent Molly-related tragedies to occur at a music festival.

Brian Alan Brockette, 20, passed away on June 29, but it was only this week that his death was finally ruled as an accidental overdose from MDMA toxicity. He was serving as a volunteer for an outside vendor at the festival. Tens of thousands of people from across the country attend the festival each year, but Brockette’s passing is the first death the Electric Forest Festival has experienced.

A Common Tragedy

Unfortunately, deaths from Molly at music festivals are becoming entirely too commonplace. Jessica Hunter, 21, passed away on October 8 after taking a bad batch of the drug during the Austin City Limits Music Festival in Texas. Her mother, Debra, said she will begin to visit schools and share her story in order to help create awareness of the dangers of drug use.

The Electric Zoo Festival decided to cancel the final day of its festival last year after two deaths related to an overdose of Molly and other substances, while MDMA deaths occurred at the Electric Daisy Carnival in 2010 and again in 2012. That festival relocated from Los Angeles to Las Vegas after the tragedy in 2010, which involved a 15-year-old girl.

Prevention Efforts

In addition to prevention efforts that required festival goers to undergo additional pat downs and other drug screening measures this year, the Electric Zoo Festival also launched a “Come To Life” campaign PSA. All festival attendees were required to watch the two-minute video before they could enter the grounds. Made Event, the creators of Electric Zoo, also designated a section of their website to the campaign, which included warning signs of a possible overdose and displayed where medical treatment centers were throughout the festival site.

“Our message to concertgoers is simple: The Electric Zoo experience is exceptional and worth being present for,” said Made Event founders Laura De Palma and Mike Bindra in a joint statement. “Molly can cause you to not only miss the moment, alienate your friends and have an overall adverse and unpleasant experience … but can also make you sick and can even be fatal. Fans will experience how great it is to ‘Come To Life’ at one of our concerts from lights, sounds and crowds.”

Learn more about Molly and the available treatment options for drug addiction. Instagram Images