Tag: substance use

High on the Playa: Burning Man and Drug Use, Part I

Posted on by kathleenmc1953@sbcglobal.net

Burning Man 2014 main burn

Burning Man is over for another year but many of us will remain enthralled with the continued media coverage of the event. As the photos and videos roll out and the stories are told we get a small taste of what goes on there and the fun we may have missed. While there are aspects that hold our interest such as the art, attire and camaraderie, we may also be curious about the drug culture at Burning Man.

Now that another man has been burned and everyone is heading back to their regular lives I thought it might be interesting to try to get an idea about the substances people may have used to heighten their experiences during their stay in Black Rock City. Information, might I say, is not easy to come by and is by no means definitive. While large cities put together reports gleaned from several sources to try to get a handle on what kind of drugs people are using and getting in trouble with, small towns usually don’t have the resources and personnel to do the same. Black Rock City is an even more special case because it exists for a brief period each year and then disappears until the following year. However, despite the obstacles there are a number of sources, both governmental and anecdotal, that can help to elucidate the specifics of drug use at the event. Here goes.

Black Rock City Drug and Alcohol Policy

The Black Rock City Survival Guide has a drug and alcohol policy. It can be found here. It goes into detail regarding the laws related to what is defined as trafficking and possession. Specific to trafficking, it alerts participants to the presence of undercover officers and advises that the practice of “gifting” can also be viewed as trafficking by law enforcement. It explicitly states that the use of medical marijuana is not legal in the state of Nevada.

Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Report

Burning Man Event Law Enforcement Activity Summary (2010 - 2013)

YearBlack Rock City Pop.BLM Operation
(# of Officers)		 BLM LE Actions
Citations/Arrests 		BLM Officer/Participant Ratio
201051,51551293 (158 drug) / 9 1 per 1,010
201153,73551376 (218 drug) / 8 1 per 1,053
201252,385 70365 (253 drug) / 14 1 per 748
201369,613 70433 (309 drug) / 6 1 per 994

Table 1.1

As can be seen from the table, although the population of Black Rock City increased 35% from 2010 to 2014, the number of drug citations increased by almost 96%. This cannot be accounted for by the small increase in the ratio of law enforcement officers to participants. Either one or both of the following assumptions could be made: law enforcement is more aggressively citing participants or more participants are bringing themselves to the attention of law enforcement by their behavior.

Lawyers for Burners

According to, Lawyers for Burners, the BLM has shifted its drug enforcement efforts from inside the event to the entrance road into the event and Gate road just inside the event. They report that in 2013 about 85% of people contacting Lawyers for Burners received citations while on the way into Black Rock City.

Lawyers for Burners also report that, from the information they received from the BLM for 2012, 253 of 365 citations were drug-related (as can also be seen in Table 1), close to 70% of the total. Most of these citations were for small amounts of marijuana. There were 11 citations/arrests for distribution/trafficking of drugs.

In Part II

In the elusive quest to get an idea of what substances people are using in Black Rock City there remain some other aspects to explore. Some people are still recovering from Burning Man 2014 for better or worse so the picture is far from complete. The powers that be are beginning to pull together their 2014 statistics for public consumption. In addition, other avenues of inquiry will be examined in the next post. These include anecdotal reports, Pershing county/BLM citation/arrest records for 2014, alcohol use at the event and reports of arrests for drug trafficking on the way to the event.

A Note

By no means should this informational pursuit be construed as an indictment of the drug culture. People have always used substances including one of the most dangerous intoxicants, alcohol. If one chooses to use a drug, knowing what one is using and how to use it safely is very important; it can make a big difference in how one survives on the playa.

Your comments and suggestions are welcome.

References
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1. United States. Bureau of Land Management (BLM). (2014, March 31) Law enforcement activity statistics for the Burning Man event, 2010-2013. Retrieved September 8, 2014 from GovernmentAttic.org,
file:///home/chronos/user/Downloads/burningmanstats.pdf

Robin Williams, I hardly knew you

Posted on by kathleenmc1953@sbcglobal.net

Robin Williams

During the last day or so many people have related personal stories about how Robin Williams touched their lives. Whether their anecdote comes from a movie, performance, interview or personal encounter, people have voiced their disbelief that such a carefree and mirthful human being could commit suicide. He rarely let his demons be known and, when he did, he made a joke about it or moved on quickly to less serious subjects.

But, for those of us in the mental health and substance abuse fields, those demons are very real and omnipresent. We see them in ourselves and in others. We never really know when the deep dark thoughts will take hold and the path to obliteration will set in. There are warning signs, of course, but the false alarms are many. At a certain point we become a little numb and a little less observant. We let our guard down. Complete and utter despair makes its entrance. There appears to be no way out. Self-annihilation appears in the guise of sweet relief. You know the rest.

I traveled in the same circles as Robin Williams did before he was famous in the mid 1970’s when he was performing in places like the Holy City Zoo and The Palms in San Francisco. I never knew him personally; he was among the many people I encountered in passing during the height of the disco era. He went on to become a celebrity and I took a circuitous path to academia. I heard about him from time to time in the media and in movies and on TV. I developed more interest in him as a person when he began to talk about his recovery from substance use. Our worlds began to look a little alike. I was in recovery myself and working with people with substance use and mental health problems. He was a well-known person who gave others hope when he talked about his struggle, even if fleetingly. When I would go on a run in San Francisco we sometimes nodded as we passed each other at Crissy Field. He was one of us. We were all doing what we had to do to contribute in whatever way we could to make up for our past sins.

Robin Williams death by suicide has taught me two things that I learn over and over again every time a thing like this happens. The first is that, no matter how many times you relapse, if you use this as a learning process, you can get clean and sober again. There is no “model” recovery and relapse is the rule rather than the exception. For anyone to hold themselves to an arbitrary standard can lead to a sense of inadequacy which can fuel the spiral downward into depression.

Secondly, always make sure there are at least two people (two in case one person is unavailable for some reason or another) that you can be absolutely truthful with and who you know will not judge you. Find these people through trial and error and, when you do, cultivate these relationships like there’s no tomorrow. These people will be invaluable to you when you are too ashamed to admit to others that you have descended into your own personal hell.

Unfortunately, Robin Williams’ celebrity didn’t protect him from the extreme emotional states that depression and substance abuse can bring on. He was well-loved and respected yet, it seems, this did not ensure his sense of well-being. It is a testament to his talent and generosity of spirit that his suicide affects many of us so deeply. On some level we feel that if only he could truly know how we felt about him he might now still be with us…