Department Blog

Ben Lawner, DO, MS, EMT-P, co-led the workshop titled “Electronic Dance Music, Designer Drugs & Teen Deaths” at the annual meeting of the National Association of EMS Physicians, held last week in San Diego. His co-presenters were Kathleen FitzGibbon, MD, a 2015 graduate of the University of Maryland School of Medicine (now an EM resident at Christiana Care Health System), Matt Levy, DO, MSc, NREMTP, Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine at Johns Hopkins and a leader in that department's Division of Special Operations, and Kevin Seaman, MD, Executive Director of the Maryland Institute for Emergency Medical Services Systems. The focus of the workshop was the current craze of teens ingesting designer drugs in an attempt to have psychedelic experiences at concerts. Some of those attempts have been fatal. The workshop leaders reviewed recent literature on the topic and discussed evidence-based practices for response and treatment.