TEEN RAVES ABOUT HOMEWORK

Cops to hold information session on drug, dance culture

A dance party regular is raving about an information session set for
next week for parents and teens to learn about the dangers of rave
drugs.

Christie Rutledge, 18, did her own homework on ecstasy and other drugs
associated with raves so she'd be able to make an informed decision
about what to look out for.

The Legal resident thinks other kids should educate themselves on the
subject and then decide whether to risk what happened to eight people
who collapsed from what cops called drug-related seizures at an April
rave in Edmonton.

"I think it's a very good idea to let people be aware of what's going
on and what could happen," Rutledge said. "It's up to them. I
researched all the drugs before I went to my first rave (last year)."

And she sticks to bottled water.

Capital Health and city police expect to educate about 200 people at
the Wednesday meeting at Grant MacEwan College about the dangers of
ecstasy, GHB (gamma-hydroxybuthyrate) and Special K (ketamine) to cut
down on ravers being sent to the emergency room.

"Something quite alarming to me personally is brain swelling," said
speaker Dr. Gregg Scheirer, an emergency room physician at the Royal
Alexandra Hospital. "This isn't from people taking a whole pile of
stuff, this is from people taking one pill of ecstasy.

"People think it's just drug addicts or people taking too much of this
stuff that get into trouble and it's not."

He noted the other drugs associated with raves can also have dangerous
effects.

"The (rave drugs) are becoming more popular and that's a concern,"
said police spokesman Wes Bellmore, adding two officers will share
experiences at the talk. "From the police standpoint we'd rather
(kids) be educated than arrested."