Mitchell Gomez is the Executive Director for DanceSafe, a 501(c)3 health education and harm reduction nonprofit based in Denver, Colorado. He is a subject matter expert on club drugs and harm reduction who has appeared in publications from local city blogs to Rolling Stone. Any media inquiries about club drug use (including MDMA, LSD, Ketamine, or exotic research chemicals), prohibition, the war on drugs, harm reduction, or the EDM community can be directed to Mitchell@DanceSafe.org.
Selected Media Mentions
The Guardian
– December 2016
– Ecstasy sold in US is less pure and more dangerous than in Europe, experts warn
– Olivia Solon
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/dec/10/ecstasy-molly-purity-us-synthetic-drugs-mdma
Los Angeles Times
– August 2016
– Tragedy once again calls into question Hard Summer’s future
– August Brown
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/music/la-et-ms-hard-summer-future-20160802-snap-story.html
SF Gate
– August 2016
– Deaths at SoCal rave a reminder of danger that can come in waves
– Erin Allday
http://www.sfgate.com/health/article/Deaths-at-SoCal-rave-a-reminder-of-danger-that-9070288.php
Houston Press
– June 2016
– When Death Strikes a Music Festival, Is It Time to Make a Change?
– Katie Sullivan
http://www.houstonpress.com/music/when-death-strikes-a-music-festival-is-it-time-to-make-a-change-8484424
Inverse
– June 2016
– The Scientific Way to Create a Music Festival Drug Schedule Plan ahead to avoid a visit to the chillout tent.
– Yasmin Tayag
https://www.inverse.com/article/17502-science-music-festival-drug-schedule-mdma-lsd-dopamine
EDM.com
– December 2015
– PERMANENT NEUROLOGICAL DAMAGE FROM ONE PILL OF ECSTASY?
– Chris Cox
http://edm.com/articles/2015/12/12/jordy-hurdes-ecstasy-video
Canadian Students for Sensible Drug Policy (CSSDP) Reform Review
– December 2015
– Reflections on Reform Pt. 2
– Daniel Greig
http://cssdp.org/reflections-on-reform-pt-2/
The Fix
– November 2015
– The Drug Policy Reform Movement Wants to End the War on People
– Will Godfrey
https://www.thefix.com/drug-policy-reform-movement-wants-end-war-people?page=all
Rolling Stone Magazine
– August 2015
– Meet the People Who Want to Make It Safer to Take Drugs at Festivals
– Kristen Gwynne
http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/features/meet-the-people-who-want-to-make-it-safer-to-take-drugs-at-festivals-20150807
Your EDM
– July 2015
– DEATH AT EDCLV 2015 RULED AS OVERDOSE BY CLARK COUNTY CORONER
– Matthew Meadow
http://www.youredm.com/2015/07/22/death-at-edclv-2015-ruled-as-overdose-by-clark-county-coroner/
EDM Tunes
– July 2015
– Clark County Coroner’s Office Rules EDC Death an “Ecstasy Overdose.”
-Terry Gotham
http://www.edmtunes.com/2015/07/clark-county-coroners-office-rules-edc-death-ecstasy-overdose/
Inlander
– July 2015
– Drug-test providers have trouble helping ID dangerous drugs at events like Paradiso
– Lael Henterly
http://www.inlander.com/Bloglander/archives/2015/07/28/drug-test-providers-have-trouble-helping-id-dangerous-drugs-at-events-like-paradiso
Orlando Sentinel
– April 2015
– UCF student’s bad trip draws attention to LSD-like drug
– Tiffany Walden
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/breaking-news/os-ucf-lsd-n-bomb-25i-nbome-20150427-story.html
Philly Voice
– March 2015
– Synthetic MDMA: An undetectable crisis
– Brandon Baker
http://www.phillyvoice.com/new-philly-dancesafe-chapter-harm-reduction/
The Communitarian
– December 2014
– Don’t rave to the grave!! Raves and electronic dance music are not only about using drugs, proponents say
– Robert Craig
http://thecommunitarian.org/content/%C2%A1don%E2%80%99t-rave-grave-raves-and-electronic-dance-music-are-not-only-about-using-drugs-proponents
Conferences, Papers, Blog Posts and Presentations:
Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP) – Cornell College
Harm Reduction Workshop http://blogs.cornellcollege.edu/studentlife/archives/tag/ssdp
Drug Policy Alliance – Reform Conference
Breakout Session – The Drug War Making Drugs Worse: What Can We Do About “New” Drugs?
http://www.reformconference.org/program/educational-program/thursday
Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse (CCSA)
– Preventing Drug- and Alcohol-related Harms at Music Festivals in Canada
http://www.ccsa.ca/Resource%20Library/CCSA-Preventing-Alcohol-Drug-Harms-at-Music-Festivals-Summary-2015-en.pdf
Burning Man 2015
– New Directions in the Psychedelic Movement
– Sacred Spaces Village
– An open discussion and Q&A with some of the leading voices in the Psychedelic and Harm Reduction world’s on where the movement is, and where it’s going. With Rick Doblin (Founder of MAPS), Emanuel Sferios (founder of DanceSafe and Executive Producer of MDMA the Movie), The Teafaerie (Erowid), Stefanie Jones (DPA), Casie William Hardison (formerly incarcerated LSD chemist), Kim aka Karma (DanceSafe)
IGNITE Boulder
The Drug War Sucks, Even if You’ve Never Done Drugs (but you probably have)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RQ7BMBT41I
DanceSafe Blog Post
– June 2015
– Electric Forest Shuts Down DanceSafe– But We Have A Bigger Problem To Tackle
– Mitchell Gomez
https://dancesafe.org/dancesafe-was-shut-down/
The second most viewed blog post in DanceSafe history.
Story re-posted and reported on by dozens of news outlets, including:
http://edm.com/articles/2015/6/30/DanceSafe-Booth-Shut-Down-By-Event-Organizers-At-Electric-Forest
https://burners.me/tag/bunk-police/
http://www.lessthan3.com/news/electric-forest-shuts-down-dancesafe-booth
http://blog.iheartraves.com/drugs-arent-problem/
http://www.dancingastronaut.com/2015/07/dancesafe-gets-shut-early-electric-forest/
http://www.mixmag.net/read/harm-reduction-group-dancesafe-asked-to-leave-festival-news
http://www.festivalsherpa.com/dancesafe-gets-sacked-mid-festival-electric-forest/
https://burners.me/tag/drugs/page/3/
