RAVES, RAVES GO AWAY

As Toronto City Council debates this week whether to lift a ban on
raves held at city sites I want to say, "I'm raving mad!" While we
cannot afford to have any more underground raves, how can we afford
the above-ground ones either?

Can we afford to tie up our police, our ambulances, our emergency
wards all for the love of dance? Can we afford to allow our teens such
exposure to gateway drugs? Are not Keiran Kelly, Andrew Ho and Beth
Robertson enough proof that ecstasy can be found at raves? Have we not
learned anything from their deaths?

Even if we exclude the obvious dangers, the experience itself can be
such a psychological overload, such an overstimulation of the senses,
can we really understand the effects this will have on our society?

I say Mayor Mel Lastman has it right. Do not back down to the
promoters who are only interested in tapping into a gold mine, our
teenagers' disposable incomes. We'd be stark raving mad to let them
continue.

Dianne Wood

Newmarket