SNEAKING DRUGS INTO RAVES NOT DIFFICULT

Security firms that work at raves and nightclubs have difficulty
finding drugs being brought into events and as many problems
determining what to do with the patrons who possess them.

Alan Mizrachi, head of Atlas Security, one of two security firms to
work the rave where Allen Ho collapsed last Oct. 10, told a coroner's
inquest yesterday that someone could easily get one or two pills
through the kind of body and bag searches his staff are allowed to
perform. He cited a case where a drug dealer carrying 100 pills had
made it through a pat-down but was caught later when he was selling
the drugs in a washroom.

When security staff do find drugs, particularly at events where there
are no paid off-duty police officers working, their options are limited.

Mr. Mizrachi said it can be dangerous for security -- who don't carry
weapons -- to confiscate drugs, so people found to have one or two
pills are just turned away. He said his staff rarely make citizen's
arrests in such cases because police don't respond quickly when only a
couple of pills or some marijuana is found.

His staff do make citizen's arrests when they catch drug dealers. But
when they found the 100-pill dealer (at a different event than the one
Mr. Ho attended), they had to release him when police had still not
arrived 40 minutes later.

Mr. Ho collapsed at a rave in a west-end underground parking garage.
He was found by a friend at about 3:30 a.m. and died in hospital 15
hours later. He was 10 days shy of his 21st birthday. It can't be
determined how many Ecstasy pills he took.

Mr. Mizrachi told the jury yesterday that his company and most other
security firms have a zero-tolerance policy on drugs. There was
controversy during the previous day's testimony, when the head of a
different security firm admitted he varies his drug tolerance policy
according to a promoter or nightclub owner's wishes.

The inquest also heard only two drug arrests were made in connection
with the rave Mr. Ho attended. One 16-year-old was found with an
Ecstasy tablet, and a 17-year-old had one capsule of crystal
methamphetamine. The pair did not get into the rave because tickets
were sold out.

The owner of a private paramedic company that worked the Oct. 10 rave
testified that his staff treat as many people at rock concerts who
have taken drugs as they do at raves.