After last year’s drug-related deaths, Tampa’s Sunset Music Festival says it’s stepping up safety, security.
Mayor Bob Buckhorn said then that the Sunset festival should not return to Tampa, that the two-day electronic dance music festival’s promoters were more interested in profit than safety.
Shannon Rhea, 23, has a group of friends that plan to gather in the stadium’s northern parking lots for the start of the festival Saturday.
Rhea, who won’t be going, is a close friend of Haynes.
She hopes this year, all her friends stay safe.
Aleguas said drug users can get so overheated that they can end up drinking a life-threatening amount of water in an effort to cool down.
"I really hope this year’s festival goes better," he said.
Josko said the festival’s organizers have worked with Tampa police to increase the number of officers, police dogs and medical teams that will be on hand this year.
Officers made 25 felony arrests last year, including an 18-year-old found with nearly half a pound of MDMA.
"You don’t have to be a drug abuser to lose your life, all it takes is one mistake, just one slip up and that could be it," she said.