RAVE NEW WORLD

A Fraser Valley mother and part time security guard describes a spooky
world of spaced-out, stoned teenagers

Every time security guard Chris Miles confiscates another surgical
mask, bag of gummy bears or a Vick's metholated inhaler, she vows not
to return.

She's likely to say the same tomorrow night while rifling through the
packs of some 3,000 girls and guys holding a $60-$80 entry ticket and
waiting up to four hours to enter the Plaza of Nations -- keeper of
the city's raves.

Mannerly kids; designer-draped, MAC-glass lips, armed with cell
phones, pagers, gallons of water, soothers and bags of sweets to stop
them from grinding down their orthodontist's handiwork while zoned out
on MDMA, methylenedioxymethamphetamine. Ecstasy to them.

Evil to Miles, part-time security guard and a Fraser Valley mother of
four increasingly sickened by what she witnesses at every rave she's
worked: armies of stoned youngsters sucking on pacifiers or gummies,
baby faces obscured by dental masks soaked with menthol to ensure a
higher high.

Blue $8 capsules are tucked in socks or crotches where Miles and the
other 40 guards can't delve.

Once inside, they do a hit of ecstasy and for the next 12 hours they
spin and jerk like windup dolls, non-stop -- until the final drop to
the floor where their bodies convulse and twitch. Most of them so
spent, so sick that when the rest of the city heads for work, they're
groping for the nearest toilet.

"By dawn some of them are crawling around the floor, they're so out of
it," Miles said.

"Without the ecstasy there would be no raves; the drug makes touching
so sensual, it keeps them wired for hours. I overheard one girl saying
how great it felt to put a burning cigarette to her skin.

"I want their parents to know what's going on with their kids between
9 p.m. and 9 a.m. They have no idea -- I had no idea -- until I worked
nights.

"I grew up in the '70s at a time when everyone tried drugs, but I
never, ever saw anything like this."

Miles has seen some kids leaving a rave on a stretcher -- comatose for
three days.

While the street sell is that ecstasy is a safe, non-addictive drug,
British studies show the drug short-circuits the brain's ability to
store information.

UBC's Dr. Ray Baker, a North American expert in addictive medicine,
claims MDMA is mood-altering and addictive. The drug has been linked
to several deaths during acute intoxication, he said, and since it
causes permanent neurotoxicity to brain nerve impulses of lab animals,
there's every reason to believe it'll do the same to humans.

"Its dangers have likely been underrated."

Party promoters linger long enough to collect the $200,000 in gate
sales, but have vanished by dawn when kids are writhing pathetically
on the floor.

Ditto for dope dealers like Vancouver's Mark E., a 20-year-old who
might still be raking in the coin if he hadn't sold a few ounces
of ecstasy and the animal tranquilizer PCP (angel dust) to North
Vancouver undercover cops. Given our jails are crammed full, should
we be sending two-bit drug dealers there? I'll tell you why the
sentencing judge didn't think so. But first, the goods on Mark:

Before his short-lived career as a dealer, he helped set up a
Halloween bombing spree that almost put a young family in hospital. He
fled Canada rather than face charges and was on the lam for 11 months
before the law flushed him out of California. Back in B.C., he was
spared jail in lieu of a $1,500 fine and two years probation. He was
selling dope a month later. Provincial court Judge J.B. Paradis
rejected Crown's request for two years in jail. Mark was given an 18
- -month conditional sentence and sent to every North Van. high school
to speak to of the evils of drugs.

Here's why:

- - Canada jails are full -- we lock up offenders more than most
democratic countries.

- - Prison is costly, frequently unduly harsh and ineffective as a
deterrence and at rehabilitation.

- - A conditional sentence with strict curfews, house arrest and other
restrictions on liberty is as effective, or more, at rehabilitation
and promoting a sense of responsibility in the offender.

- - Jail is not a deterrent for crimes of the pocketbook, Paradis noted;
"A black market exists and persons willing to take the risk E can reap
some financial benefits. As long as the demand exists the supply will
continue, and people will fill the void as traffickers are removed E
that may be bleak but it is an honest reflection of basic capitalist
principles. The only way the cycle will be broken is by reducing and
eventually eliminating demand. That will require strong parent
influence, serious educational programs and a dedication to the notion
that young persons can be taught that potentially attractive
adventures can be extremely dangerous."