DON'T BAN RAVES: JURY

Inquest Verdict Urges City To Allow Safe Parties

Toronto needs a safe venue for raves, along with tough new provincial laws
to curb drug use at the all-night affairs, a coroner's jury says.

The call for a safe place where young people can dance the night away
topped a list of 27 recommendations yesterday by the jury, which was
investigating the death of third-year Ryerson student Allen Ho.

Ho died Oct. 10, two weeks short of his 21st birthday, after taking the
illegal drug ecstasy and collapsing at a Toronto rave held in an
underground parking garage.

"We the jury agree that there is a need for safe venues for raves, and
severe restrictions on rave promoters will defeat the intent of these
recommendations," jury members said in a preface to the recommendations.

Kim Stanford, chair of the Toronto Dance Safety Committee and a co-founder
of Toronto Raver Info Project, a harm-reduction group, said her group was
feeling victorious yesterday. The jury's "solid positive recommendations,"
if picked up, are "going to prevent other tragic overdose deaths."

Toronto Raver Info Project receives about $32,000 a year from city grants
to promote harm-reduction at raves.

Despite the jury's recommendation that Toronto continue making city-owned
property available for the all-night dances, Mayor Mel Lastman said
yesterday that's not going to happen until Queen's Park gives
municipalities stricter powers of control.

"All I want is a safe atmosphere," Lastman told reporters at police
headquarters. "I don't want people getting killed because they're taking
drugs, and they do take overdoses."

Toronto council earlier approved a two-month moratorium on raves on city
property, after there were concerns about numerous drug-related arrests
made at three raves held on the Canadian National Exhibition grounds
earlier this spring.

Though council is to reconsider the issue on Aug. 1, Lastman said it won't
act until the province strengthens its hand.

"I'm not ready to move until we get the legislation," he said.

Toronto police Chief Julian Fantino agreed.

"We want to have provincial legislation in place to enable local
municipalities to put in place the appropriate measures to ensure that
these events are held to optimum safety," Fantino told reporters.

"What we were recommending from the outset was to make sure these raves
were done in a safe environment," Fantino added.

The jury's recommendations, the chief said, "speak volumes about the
concerns all of us have with regard to safety and security and the
well-being of those young people."

Ho's mother, Mui Phuong, who has absented herself from much of the inquest
because "it's very hard for me to listen to people talking about my son's
death," agreed safety should be paramount at raves.

"Everything at raves should be safe for the kids," the 46-year-old woman
said in an interview.

And the all-night affairs should be regulated, she added.

Raver Sarah Wayne, 16, who testified at the inquest, said she was happy at
the thought of raves returning to city-owned property, where safety and
supervision won't be left to individual promoters.

"All we wanted (was) to have a rave, and city owned properties are some of
the safest venues," said Wayne.

James Ridge, Toronto's executive director of municipal licensing and
standards, welcomed the recommendations.

"Certainly, the jury recommends there be raves only where there are
licensing provisions in place," Ridge said.

City staff began going through the recommendations yesterday, and will
involve the city's health, fire, police, ambulance and legal departments in
discussing ways to implement them.

Ho, 20, was one of three people who died last year after taking ecstasy at
a rave. Since 1998, 13 people have died from ecstasy-related complications.

The coroner's office is investigating three other recent deaths believed to
be ecstasy-related.

Ecstasy - also known as MDMA - is an amphetamine-based stimulant and
hallucinogen.

According to testimony by toxicology expert Dr. Margaret Thompson, a single
ecstasy pill can kill someone with a sensitivity to MDMA. Thompson
testified she believes Ho had such a sensitivity.

Medical experts have expressed concerns that the mix of high-energy
dancing, high temperatures and dehydration add to ecstasy's effects.

According to testimony at the inquest, an estimated 40,000 to 50,000 young
people - most of them teenagers and 20-somethings - attend the often
crowded events, held weekly in the Toronto area.

Taking a tablet of ecstasy is a gamble in more ways than one, John Hugel, a
senior chemist with Health Canada, told the inquest. The amount of MDMA in
a single pill can vary from 82 to 170 milligrams, he said.

"There's no way of knowing how much it contains - no way of knowing how
much you're getting or what," Hugel said.

Concerns at the underground rave where Ho died included high temperatures
and the lack of ventilation, running water, lights and enough readily
accessible fire escape exits.

Police investigating Ho's death described the underground garage, at 501
Alliance Ave., as "a firetrap."

Toronto Councillor Olivia Chow (Downtown) said she thought city council
"might have acted a bit hastily" in banning raves, adding she was glad the
ban on city property is only temporary.

"When you look at these recommendations, it's clear that we must we fund
drug education, and it's clear we must have a safe venue," Chow said.

"Driving raves underground is dangerous. Remember, Allen Ho's death
occurred in a place that was not licensed," Chow said.

Louis Sokolov, lawyer for the Toronto Dance Safety Committee, said the jury
"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
hold safe raves on city property.

"The jury issued a clear recommendation and clear endorsement for
harm-reduction strategies and that's important," Sokolov said.