Over the weekend, an illegal rave took place in the national park of Dartmoor, Devon, leading to an eight-hour cleanup over the following days. Between February 12 – 13, a party took place in amongst the nature reserve where, subsequently, hundreds of empty drinks cans, bottles, and camping equipment were left.
Park wardens Dartmoor Rangers took to the site on Monday, February 14, where an enormous cleanup operation ensued.
The taboo party drug ketamine is being hailed as a potential treatment for depression, anxiety, and chronic pain. Since the 1970s ketamine has been legally prescribed in the United States as an anesthetic. Due to the drug’s dissociative and hallucinogenic effects, it’s become a popular rave culture drug. Other psychedelics such as LSD or MDMA cannot be legally prescribed because there are no medically recognized health benefits.
An easing of prescription rules during COVID-19 has allowed more Americans to access the drug through their doctors for at-home mental health treatments. Some have hailed the drug as a breakthrough therapy for depression and other mental health conditions. Others remain skeptical because there is little evidence to support how effective ketamine is for depression. There are limited large-scale studies of ketamine’s medical impact, leaving some to also conclude that an unregulated boom of the drug could result in tragedies and a regulatory crackdown.
The London Underground (also known as the London Tube) is one of the busiest mass rail transport networks in the world, serving more than 4 million passengers daily. Given that fact, the London Tube would be the last place one would think of to do a rave party.
But internet prank group Trollstation actually set out to do just that. On a Monday night, the group “hijacked” one of the carriages of the Bakerloo Line and turned it into a proper rave. Not a bad way to cure the Monday blues, right?
