Pubdate: Tue, 08 Aug 2000
Source: Toronto Star (CN ON)
Copyright: 2000 The Toronto Star
Contact:  One Yonge St., Toronto ON, M5E 1E6
Fax: (416) 869-4322
Website: http://www.thestar.com/
Forum: http://www.thestar.com/editorial/disc_board/
Page: A23
Section: Letter Of The Day
Author: Danny Fiorino, Markham

RAVES DON'T KILL PEOPLE

Re: Raves, raves go away, Letter, Aug. 3.

I was irate to read Dianne Wood's narrow-minded view on maintaining
the ban on raves on city-owned property. These above-ground raves
won't tie up the city's resources as she stated. The city can afford
to have five-to-10 off-duty police officers patrolling these parties.

The city can also spare a few ambulances to be on standby in case of
an accidental overdose or some other injury. And as for the point that
emergency wards will be tied up for "the love of dance," how many
people does she think overdose at a party?

Why can't people figure out that it isn't raves that kill people?

It's not the loud music or flashing lights, it's not the friendly
atmosphere or the open-mindedness of ravers that kill people, it's the
fact these people unfortunately took drugs.

Maintaining the ban won't stop these youths from taking drugs, either.
If they want drugs badly enough, they can find them elsewhere.

These so-called "gateway" drugs are everywhere, not just at raves.
They're in our schools, our workplaces and in every nightclub that
plays dance music in Toronto. If you go to any dance club in the city
you'll find as many people doing ecstasy as at a rave.

The ban does nothing to protect teens, it endangers them. These
underground parties are powderkegs ready to explode.

The parties are thrown in abandoned warehouses with no running water
or lights and are filled with thugs and dealers passing off rat poison
as ecstasy.

Having these parties at city-owned venues with a police presence will
help keep these thugs away.

Maintaining the ban won't stop drug use or prevent more of these
deaths from happening.

The only way to have safe raves is to throw them in city-owned venues
and follow the new guidelines the city has proposed.
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MAP posted-by: John Chase