BRITTNEY RAIDS

Since the tragic death of Brittney Chambers, law enforcement has gone kooky
trying to get a handle on what they call an epidemic of rave parties and
ecstasy abuse.

Chambers died after taking two ecstasy tablets at her 16th birthday party
in Louisville. A fact most anti-ecstasy zealots conveniently overlook is
that the drug didn't killer Brittney. It's a stretch to say the drug played
much of a role at all. What the coroner found is that Chamber drank too
much water, too fast, and it killed her. She drank the water because drug
education zealots had taught her that ecstasy causes dehydration.

Despite the facts, the Chambers death has served as a green light for cops
up and down the front range to abuse their authority when responding to any
social gathering that someone calls a "rave."

Police in Greeley crashed a St. Patrick's Day party that someone reported
as a rave, on the mere assumption that some of the guests would be using
ecstasy. They questioned and searched the partiers, and arrested four on
charges ranging from car theft to drug possession. Only two of the 1,000
party goers were found to possess ecstasy.

The uninvited officers ended up slapping the property owner, Sharon Sewald,
with 10 building code violations. Sewald told the Denver Post she's a
victim of post-Brittney Chambers hysteria, saying: "It's like the
government is scared to death because they think all these people are bad
people. That's not right."