No one can deny the popularity of electronic music in Edmonton.
In April, 16,000 people attended the two day Elements electronic music festival at the Edmonton Expo Centre. It was the largest event of its kind in Western Canada. But it's what happened inside the Expo Centre that has caused concern.
Despite a heightened police and medical presence, more than 20 people were taken to hospital because of drug overdoses. Police suspect drugs came in through a back area where there was no security for a period of time and by people throwing drugs over a smoke pit fence.
"There was obviously something. I mean, there was that many people that overdosed right; to the point where the doctor said, straight up to us, that if they weren't there to inject valium into people that there would have been significant damage. Like, someone would have likely died," said Edmonton Police Service detective Nicole Chapdelaine.
Edmonton's mayor is concerned about the difference between the first night and second night of the music festival when the crowd turned rowdy and boisterous. 18 were taken to hospital because of drug overdose on Saturday, compared to only four on Friday.
"Obviously, the second night was the one that caused the greatest amount of challenge for you. How do you see us avoiding a second night event, like we had before?" Stephen Mandel posed the questions to promoters on Monday.
It's a statistic the city has at hand as it weighs the consequences of what happened.
"A lot of them go to have a good time, but there's a handful of people who decide to use drugs because it enhances the experience," added Detective Chapdelaine.
According to a city report, it's not a matter of banning electronic music festivals, but rather being more prepared. Eleven recommendations have come forward following a meeting with stakeholders in the summer.
"There was an opportunity for people to share. It was a respectful conversation, and out of that, the recommendations came forward that there needs to be better communication, more consistency, and we need to plan this thing together because none of us can do it on our own," said Detective Chapdelaine.
Boodang Music Canada, the promoter of Elements, has agreed to all the recommendations, even though it will cost the promoter hundreds of thousands of additional dollars.
"Promoters like myself, you know, we will pay the costs associated with large scale events such as the ones that we throw. Elements, we did take care of all the bills: police costs, AHS, the LRT bill, everything was taken care of by us," said Viet Nguyen, Boodang event coordinator.
Those all cost Boodang an additional $205,000, including $148,000 for policing.
Councilor Kerry Diotte attended Elements on the first night. He believes Boodang is working to make Elements as safe as possible. Diotte doesn't want electronic music festivals to be banned in Edmonton, believing it would cause the events to go underground, in turn, making them less safe.
"I think we learned a lot. We saw that on that Friday night, when I attended, it was well-behaved. The kids were friendly, the police officers were happy, then it went bad on the following night. But it shows me that we can learn from that and I think people have," said councilor Diotte.
The drugs seized during the Elements music festival include 150 ecstasy pills and two grams of powder, 3.6 grams of cocaine, 36 ketamine capsules, eleven marihuana joints, 32.5 grams of GHB, and 18 unknown pills.
Nine charges were laid against four people over the two days.
To read the licence review for large events click:
Elements Report
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