From Molly to Marijuana Heaven -- How America Likes to Get High at Outdoor Events

Phillip Smith
,
Phillip Smith
and
AlterNet
May 08, 2015Drugs

Thanks to DrugAbuse.com, "trusted resources for substance abuse and addiction treatment," we've got some new data on which drugs are most popular at which prominent concerts or festivals. The group examined more than three million Instagram posts mentioning both one of the events and a particular substance.

Here's what they found:

1. Burning Man. The annual week-long party in the Nevada desert scored more first place mentions for various drugs than any other, but it's worth noting that that even here, the number of mentions wasn't super high (unlike the crowd). Burning Man took top honors for mentions of magic mushrooms (7.42%), DMT (7.22%), LSD (5.64%), and mescaline (0.48%), which is not exactly surprising. A bit more surprising was its first place finish for mentions of crack cocaine (3.74%), beating out Bonaroo and Britain's Glastonbury by a few hundredths of a percent.

2. Chili Cook-Off. The International Chili Society's annual event drew no mentions of crack, weed, or psychedelics, but an amazing 90% of Instagram posts about it mentioned alcohol. Silly people! Booze or beer isn't going to soothe your burning mouths. Try buttermilk instead.

3. Coachella. Southern California's premier music festival apparently draws a bunch of coke heads—and more than any of the other events. Cocaine was mentioned in 12.39% of Coachella Instagram posts; only the Mad Decent Block Party (11.76%) and Lollapalooza (10.67%) came close.

4. Electric Daisy Carnival. The massive electronic dance music festival took top honors for Ecstasy/Molly/MDMA mentions with 42.99%. It also took first place for mentions of pills (0.47%). I guess you need something to help you sleep after a hard night of rollin'.

5. Marley Fest.Anybody want to take a guess? Yep, the reggae-themed festival kicked ass when it comes to marijuana mentions (82.04%), leaving in the dust its nearest contenders, Camp Bisco (25.11%) and Bonaroo (25.05%). But ganja is apparently all anyone at Marley Fest cares about; it didn't make the list for any other drug mentions.

Read more at Drugabuse.com and  http://drugabuse.com/featured/instagram-drugs-and-rock-n-roll/

Report typos and corrections to: feedback@alternet.org.

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