DON'T STOP THE RAVING

To the editor:

Jean Sonmor was absolutely right (Nov. 7). Vilifying rave organizers
and shutting down rave parties will only drive them further
underground, making them more unsafe, and will quite possibly increase
drug use among teenagers. Tom Jakobek seems to have lost touch with
reality on this one.

Teenagers will always search for belonging. Rave parties provide many
teens with just that. It's an outlet. They should be allowed to
continue, though not unsupervised. I'm not sure I buy Jakobek's unsafe
theory either.

Three deaths in six months out of tens of thousands of ravers every
weekend? I don't mean to be insensitive here, but that sounds
remarkable to me. We were all teenagers once, Mr. Jakobek.

Let's just relax about this non-issue. Don't stop the raving.
Supervise them, regulate them, even tax them if you want. Let's all
remember one thing here: these are teenagers. They'll grow up to be
cynical, anal retentive, do-gooding adults like you soon enough. So
cut them some slack.

Eric Hanson
Port Credit

(Would "supervised" raves still have the same attraction?)