RAVES SHOULD BE HELD ON CITY LAND

Raves should be held on city land, jury says Allen Ho inquest: Mayor
first wants provincial legislation to regulate events

Jennifer Prittie, with files from Chris Eby National Post, with files
from The Canadian Press

Mel Lastman wants to maintain a ban on raves despite a recommendation
by a coroner's jury that they should once again be held on city property.

"Unless we get the provincial legislation to be able to carry out the
things we want to carry out I don't want [raves] and I will not go
along with them unless we get that provincial legislation," Mr.
Lastman said.

"I want to be able to search people, I want make sure they're not
bringing guns in the place, I want to make sure they're not bringing
drugs into the place, I want to make sure they pay the ambulance
people and I want to make sure that the people who are running it are
not thugs."

The mayor made his comments after an inquest looking into the death of
Allen Ho -- a 20-year-old student who collapsed after taking Ecstasy
at an all-night party in October -- offered a list of 27 non-binding
recommendations aimed at preventing future tragedies.

The jury said a system of licensing should be put in place based on
the city's safe rave protocol, which was adopted in December. These
"rave guidelines" require organizers to hire an ambulance, private
paramedics and off-duty police officers to patrol the events.

"I think it sent a very clear message to the mayor, to the chief of
police and to all of city council, that they should listen to the
jury's recommendations, and that they should hold safe raves on city
property," said Louis Sokolov, counsel for the Toronto Dance Safety
Committee, which represents the local rave scene.

Last month, city council temporarily banned raves on its property, a
move that many critics felt would just drive the events underground to
unsafe, unsupervised locations.

Chief Julian Fantino said yesterday that he was very pleased with the
recommendations, but had to study them further.

"We only saw a ban for the time being until the appropriate safeguards
were put in place," he said.

The jury said that both city property and private venues should be
made available for raves, subject to a licence or permit system.

That system, it said, should include a number of conditions, such as
unlimited access to drinking water, a restriction on admission to
those 16 and older, and a ban on depictions of drugs and drug use on
advertising material.

Among other advice on regulating raves, the report said a door search
policy should be established, so that those found with drugs would be
removed from a venue or refused admittance. Furthermore, a paid duty
officer should supervise the search, so anyone found with drugs would
be arrested and charged.

Agencies that print or sell tickets for raves were asked to include
more information on the tickets, including the location of an event, a
warning that the event is "drug free," and a notice about the search
policy and the consequences of drug possession.

The RCMP is trying to rein in such activities at raves in Vancouver
and Richmond, B.C., by enforcing many of the legislative measures
suggested by the Allen Ho inquest.

Under bylaws introduced last year, the municipal councils in the two
west-coast cities provide licences for raves held on city properties
as long as promoters take measures to prevent unsafe drug use.

By working with rave promoters and providing training to security
guards, the RCMP says it is preventing tragedies, although not
stopping drug use altogether.

"It is important to know you can't stop drug use completely," said
Staff Sgt. Chuck Doucette, who is in charge of the Drug Awareness
Program in Vancouver.

"There is definitely drug use in a rave, just like there is drug use
in the average bars and clubs."

The inquest jury also said that the Ontario Legislature should start
consulting with all parties, including those who attend raves, about a
Liberal private member's bill now before it which seeks to regulate
raves. That bill, however, has little chance of passing into law.

The jury also made a series of recommendations concerning drug
education. These include placing a 50-cent surtax on rave admissions,
which would go to the Toronto Raver Info Project (TRIP), which
conducts drug education work at raves, and the Toronto Harm Reduction
Task Force.

It also advocated more government funding for those groups, and the
creation of a video, Web site and other materials to realistically
portray the risks of designer drugs.

Of 13 Ecstasy-related deaths that have occurred in Ontario since 1998,
only three have had any connection with raves, and only one, that of
Mr. Ho, has involved an underground rave.

Three more deaths that occurred east of Toronto on the May 24 weekend
are being investigated as Ecstasy-related deaths, but none of those
involved raves.