Thinking of hoping on a plane and heading to Miami for Ultra Music Festival next March? Well, you can, as long as you’re over the age of 18.
According to EDM.com, the Miami-based festival that has reached its 16th year of existence, has announced that they will now be strictly an 18-and-over festival as of 2015 after all the controversy and bad publicity that appeared during this year’s run.
News of this new implementation came during this weekend’s Electric Zoo Music Festival in New York City where flyers were handed out, breaking the news to the now underage attendees.
Aside from the new age requirements, the festival has taken a stand against the drug use that we all know occurs at these kinds of festivals. Ultra has officially taken to Twitter and the web to confirm the new policies.
“The safety and security of our attendees, artists/performers, and personnel are our utmost priority and concern. Event organizers maintain a zero tolerance policy respecting the possession, sale, contribution, or use of any illegal or illicit drugs of substances and any such possession, sale, contribution, or use is strictly prohibited.”
The new rules and regulations come on the heels of many negative stories from 2014’s weekend.
On the first day of the show, a security guard was almost trampled to death after a mob of people broke through the barricades that had been set up on the perimeter of the location.
Then, a 21-year-old man was pronounced dead after he fell ill. His friends reportedly took him to their car to “sleep off” the affects of the drugs he had taken, but when they returned they noticed he had died. After much investigations and back and forth, it was ruled an overdose.
At the end of the weekend, 76 festival-goers were arrested, 28 of which were for felonies and 118 were treated by paramedics.
The news got so bad, that at one point the City of Miami had decided that it would be in the citizens’ best interest if the festival found a new home. After a few weeks of debate, it was ruled that the festival would be able to return to their home of Bayfront Park in Downtown Miami.
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