Is the South American RAVE Act on its way?

The Buenos Aires government will no longer approve permits for major electronic music festivals in Argentina, following the deaths of 6 people at Time Warp festival earlier this month.

According to the Guardian, the city’s mayor Horacio Rodriguez Larreta said the ban would remain in effect until a new law was approved to prevent drug abuse at music festivals.

Time Warp – which began in Germany in 1994 but has been held in Argentina for the past three years – was met with tragedy after 6 people died and another 9 were left in critical condition on its opening night. The event seemed to spin out of control, with crowds telling local news channel TN they “couldn’t stay inside” and “it was too hot and there were too many people.”

As the festival medical team reported, the victims, aged 21 to 25, were suspected of having suffered acute poisoning. Witnesses said that festival-goers were being offered drugs including ecstasy pills and LSD. Five people were arrested.

The promoters cancelled the second night of the event and issued a statement via their website expressing their condolences and asking for time to determine what happened.