Rave at LA Coliseum Sends 120 to Hospital; Docs Urge Ban

LOS ANGELES (June 29) -- A massive two-day rave at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum that sent 120 mostly drugged-out teens and young adults to emergency rooms -- and may have led to the death of one -- has sparked a call by some doctors for the dance parties to be banned.

The Los Angeles Times reported late today that a 15-year-old girl had died from a suspected drug overdose after the counterculture event, which local officials already were considering disallowing next year.

Promoter Insomniac Events' publicist, Alexandra Greenberg, told AOL News "the promoter is unreachable for comment" about reaction to the Electric Daisy Carnival, which drew 185,000 people over Friday and Saturday for an event that organizers described as the largest in North America. More than 200 people reportedly were treated for injuries.

Further rankling the doctors: The Coliseum, site of the 1932 and 1984 Olympics and University of Southern California home football games, is owned by the state of California and the city and county of Los Angeles.

Michael Tullberg, Getty Images

A two-day rave at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum resulted in 120 people going to the emergency room. Here, DJ Christopher Lawrence spins on the Neon Garden stage on day two of the Electric Daisy Carnival electronic music festival on Saturday.

"This is basically a government-encouraged ... drug fest. That's the wrong message," Dr. Brian Johnston, emergency room director for the White Memorial Medical Center, told the Los Angeles Times. "It's putting people at risk unnecessarily. It's putting people's health at risk."

Another emergency services director, Dr. Marc Futernick at the California Hospital Medical Center, told the Times it was "unconscionable" for public grounds to be used for such events. "I don't know why our elected ... leaders would allow these activities to take place," Futernick said.

The festival featured top DJs and electronic and dance performers, including Moby and will.i.am of the Black-Eyed Peas. Tickets were $149 for both the Friday and Saturday lineups, and the Times reported that the agency that operates the Coliseum expected to make twice the profit it takes in for USC football games.

The Carnival, in its 14th year, also featured traditional carnival rides, vendors and bars for those 21 and older. It has grown massively from its first year, when a few thousand people attended a rave at the nearby Shrine Auditorium.

Pat Lynch, the Coliseum's general manager, told the Times that while the drug use was a problem, it involved a relatively limited number of festival-goers.

"When you've got 185,000 people coming to anything, there's incidents," he said. "Over the course of two days, stuff happens."