AFTER AFTER-HOURS DRUG USE

Police Suggest Cut In Club Hours To Rein In Abuse

Police commander Luc Rondeau wants to take the "after-hours" out of
after-hours dance clubs in Quebec.

Unlicensed all-night dance venues should be forced to close at 3:30 a.m.,
the same time as licensed bars and dance clubs, said Rondeau, head of the
Montreal Urban Community police department's drug, alcohol and morality squad.

"The laws now in place don't cover what's happening out there," Rondeau said.

Unlicensed clubs that open late and close after dawn have proliferated in
recent years and become a marketplace for drug dealers, he said.

Licensed bars come under the Regie des Alcools, des Courses et des Jeux,
which stipulates that they can sell alcohol between 8 a.m. and 3 the
following morning, and must close by 3:30 a.m. There are no laws
restricting operating hours for unlicensed clubs, because they don't serve
alcohol.

Rondeau has set up a committee of health and public-security officials to
come up with proposals for the government to try and control the
establishments. "We need provincial authorities to get involved, " he said.

For police to get the upper hand, "we either have to change the laws
(governing the clubs) or the hours."

"That's discrimination," said Ricardo Cordeiro, spokesman for the Sona
after-hours club on Bleury St.

Singling out the after-hours clubs for legislation will be "a very big
debate, a debate in the courts," said Cordeiro, president of 514
Productions, which organizes weekend events at Sona as well as periodic
raves at larger venues.

Sona's live DJ events on Fridays and Saturdays attract about 1,000 people a
night, Cordeiro said.

"It's the new reality - it's what this generation wants," the 30-year-old
party promoter said. "You can't force them to close at 3 a.m."

The after-hours issue could sour relations between police and 514
Productions. The two sides recently struck a deal to allow greater police
presence at rave events, starting with a 5,500-strong party at the Molson
Centre on July 21.

Molson security staff searched ticket-holders' pockets and knapsacks, and
even asked people to take off their shoes. Uniformed and undercover police
officers kept an eye on partygoers both outside and inside the centre.

About 40 ticket-holders were turned away at the gates for possessing drugs,
Rondeau said. "I'm very satisfied with the way it went. We had decided in
advance not to charge them if they were carrying only small quantities for
their personal use," he said.

Two drug dealers were arrested inside and police confiscated a handful of
speed and ecstasy tablets and four vials of GHB, commonly known as the
"date-rape" drug.

But the few arrests didn't reflect the drug reality inside, Rondeau said.
Three-quarters of the people on the dance floor at 3 a.m. were under the
influence, he said.

However, many young people who attend these events say they can go all
night without taking any stimulants.

Cordeiro said that "drugs are not an event problem, they're a social problem."

Rondeau said he doesn't have enough officers to police smaller after-hours
dance parties and restricting operating hours would be the simplest way to
control the drug problem.

To halt drug dealers in licensed clubs, the Regie can suspend the bar's
license, said Regie spokesman Francois Moisan.

The after-hours clubs don't have a liquor license, Moisan said, so the
Regie can't get involved. "It's up to the municipalities to set the rules."

But apart from screening the business permit and ensuring that fire-safety
regulations are met, municipalities can do little to control the clubs.