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Buzz Kill: LA County Wants You To Take Ecstasy Safely

LOS ANGELES (CBS) —The glow-stick industry may be buzzing over the latest public service announcement from Los Angeles County, but some say it amounts to an backhanded endorsement of illicit drug use.

Amid ongoing debate over safety and security measures at rave dance parties held at the Los Angeles Coliseum, county health officials have quietly launched a campaign to offer guidelines for safe use of MDMA, more popularly known as "ecstasy".

Officials plan to distribute leaflets such as the one pictured below at upcoming events with tips on ways to avoid overdosing on what the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration classifies along with PCP and mescaline as a Schedule I narcotic.

county ecstasy flier
LA County is set to debut this flyer on "Ecstasy: How To Minimize Potential Harms". (credit: LAWeekly.com)

The death of a 15-year-old girl and hundreds of injuries at the 14th annual Electric Daisy Carnival held in the publicly-owned Los Angeles Coliseum in June 2010 sparked a public backlash over the potential safety hazards of hosting upwards of 180,000 young people, but the Coliseum Commission says it intends to move ahead with the event this year.

(©2010 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Wire services contributed to this report.)

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