DRUG USE BY YOUNG IS CULPRIT

Re Toronto Mayor Mel Lastman's plan to shut down illegal after-hours clubs
and raves. May I ask why raves, at least in their present form, are legal
at all?

I do not object to large gatherings of people out to have fun. But "legal
raves" still are a huge market for drugs and people seeking drug-enduced
experiences.

The whole idea of a rave is to dance to fast-beat techno music and stay up
until dawn doing it. Who can do that without some chemical aid? Whether it
be designer drugs of the day (Ecstasy, etc.) or simply caffeine uppers, why
do we want our young people engaging in such activities?

As a solution, I suggest a curfew. These designer drugs last a good six
hours. Raves start late and end in the early morning. How about a 1:30 a.m.
or 2 a.m. curfew (just before the TTC ends its subway service, perhaps)?
Perhaps this would curb the use of drugs, which is the real problem with
"legal" and "illegal" raves.

We all want our kids to have fun, dance and enjoy life. Raves, techno music
and dancing are not the culprit. The drugs associated with them are.
Limiting raves' hours would go a long way toward curbing this problem.

Let's claim back our city. Do we really want Toronto to be the Ecstasy
capital of North America?

Teri Gleeson, Toronto

AFTER-HOURS CLUBS ARE THE PROBLEM, NOT CITY'S RAVES

I have been a loyal party-goer (in adult-speak that's "raver") for going on
seven years. In all of the years I've been going out to raves, it has been
a well-known fact that the after-hours clubs in Toronto are seedy places.
They've been seedy for years.

Mayor Mel Lastman talks about prevention now. Prevention would have been
shutting down these clubs years ago.

I'm in my 20s now and I like to think that I grew up in the rave scene. In
those seven years, we were ignored by the media, though a police presence
always was there.

Raves are not killing these kids; guns and drugs are. Why do we insist on
shooting the messenger? After-hours clubs and raves are two completely
separate things. They always have been and always will be. Why now are we
grouping them together?

The Toronto rave community always has been co-operative. Responsible
promoters ensure event safety. I haven't been to a party in the past three
years without some kind of police or paramedic present.

In fact, we met at Toronto City Hall just this summer for a forum
discussing how we can all make raves safer. Organizations like TRIP
(Toronto Rave Information Project) are few and far between. It is beyond me
why we aren't finding out where these kids are finding the resources to get
guns.

Having also spent a lot of time in the U.S., namely Atlanta, I think this
is something that seems more likely to happen there. Where are these guns
coming from? Isn't that a more pressing issue?

It seems that as much as I like Lastman, he will go gunning for the crisis
of the minute - somehow still managing to miss the point entirely.

Communication is what will help this issue. Shutting down raves entirely
will send things back to the way that they began: underground.

That, to me, is a far more dangerous conclusion.

I will continue to support the Toronto rave scene and I know that there is
a community here strong enough to support it along with me, and alongside
the City of Toronto.

Amy Miranda, Brampton