POLICE FOUND ECSTASY EASILY, INQUEST TOLD

'Took 30 seconds' to purchase drug at Toronto raves

Just 30 seconds after they started working the crowd at a rave this
year, undercover officers made their first purchase of ecstasy.

That was all it took, a Toronto police detective told the inquest
probing the death of a Ryerson student last October.

"The arrests could have been unlimited," Detective Howard Page of 14
Division's plainclothes unit testified yesterday.

"An officer would infiltrate the dance floor and attempt to purchase
narcotics. At the low end, it took 30 seconds. At the high end, it
took three minutes."

Allan Ho, 20, died Oct. 10, about 15 hours after a friend found him
lying on his back, his jaw clenched and hands balled into fists, in an
underground parking garage where a rave was being held.

He had taken ecstasy, known as MDMA (methylanedioxymethamphetamine),
an illegal amphetamine-based drug that causes euphoric and mildly
hallucinatory effects.

The inquest into his death is also looking at the broader question of
electronic dance parties and the risks that can accompany raves.

Page, a 20-year veteran of the force, headed up a team of officers who
worked three raves at the Better Living Centre on the grounds of
Exhibition Place early this year.

He testified that each time the undercover officers went to make a
purchase, it took them no longer than three minutes to find someone
willing to sell them drugs.

On Feb. 20, the first rave the officers worked, they arrested five
people. Three of those five were charged with trafficking ecstasy. The
other two were charged with selling crystal amphetamine.

Four plainclothes officers and 32 uniformed officers, paid by the
rave's promoter, worked that event along with 95 security guards. At
the next two parties at the Better Living Centre the officers worked,
the police presence increased - first, to nine plainclothes officers
and 40 uniform officers, then to 19 plainclothes officers, 12
intelligence officers and 51 uniformed officers.

Each time, they found it easy to buy drugs - usually ecstasy, crystal
methamphetamine and marijuana - despite the fact that some dealers
knew the police were working the building.

And each time the undercover officers waded into the sea of people on
the dance floor, they arrested more and more people, Page said.

"The word was out, but even with the word out, nothing changed. We
were still 30 seconds to three minutes," Page said.

"We should have gone to the April 22 rave and not been able to
drugs."

The police were only limited by concerns for officer safety and the
amount of time it takes them to complete paperwork and handle evidence.

Also yesterday, an American drug consultant testified that if raves
are banned from sanctioned venues and forced underground, partygoers
will be at risk.

Trinka Porrata, a retired drug investigator from the Los Angeles
Police Department, suggested stringent controls to limit illegal drug
use, including more thorough searches.