Ecstatic Raves

In March, when 19-year-old Melissa Flaherty died at a techno dance party in a Southeast warehouse, many feared a new killer stalked Portland's youth. The drug Ecstasy, a pill that floods the brain with serotonin, was blamed for Flaherty's demise, as it had been for the December 2000 death of a Jefferson High School student. Cops opened a murder query in Flaherty's case, and every news organization in town zeroed in on the "rave" dance scene, which found itself under siege (see "The Agony and the Ecstasy," WW, March 14, 2001).

By the end of March, an autopsy revealed that MDMA, the chemical commonly known as Ecstasy, did not kill the Clackamas nursing student. Instead, Flaherty died from an overdose of MDA, a related but far more potent compound. Despite being ingested in staggering quantities worldwide, MDMA kills almost no one.

Even so, Ecstasy eradication remains high on local cops' priority list. "Ecstasy has very dangerous properties and has damaged a lot of our young people," said Police Chief Mark Kroeker at a November press conference.

Police attention to the Ecstasy trade brought an unprecedented development in the Flaherty case. It so happened that Flaherty and her friends took a photo of their drug dealer that March night. That snapshot, in part, led to the November manslaughter indictment of Jeremy Michael

Tomsha. Tomsha is the first alleged dealer in Oregon charged with homicide for a client's overdose. Tomsha's trial is set to begin Dec. 26, though sources at the Multnomah County District Attorney's office say it's likely to be postponed.

Meanwhile, the Northwest's electronic-music scene is going strong. Events range from small shows in nightclubs and coffee shops to large-scale all-ages warehouse parties like the one where Flaherty died. The use of illicit chemicals is still a hot topic of controversy within the scene.

WWeek 2015