RAVE CRACKDOWN

Province, Cops Meet To Tackle Illegal, Drug-Infested Parties

A police-government "summit" on raves will look for ways to quell the
drug-laced excesses of the popular underground parties, says Consumer and
Commercial Relations Minister Bob Runciman.

Runciman said Toronto Police want to set up a meeting of officers and
government officials in a few weeks to deal with the many problems spawned
by raves.

"The Toronto Police approached us but I think it's a problem in other areas
outside of Toronto," Runciman said yesterday. "There was a death in the
Sauble Beach area associated with a rave. We've had three deaths
associated with rave parties since July.

"The police say in the Toronto area it's a very, very significant problem
in terms of the sale of so-called designer drugs at these events."

Acting Toronto Police Chief Mike Boyd said a police team set up after the
city's first rave death Oct. 10 will focus on the "greater issues" of
drugs, other related crimes and disinformation about the booming and
profitable industry.

An unnamed 21-year-old Ryerson University student died after collapsing in
a filthy garage under a former factory. An autopsy ruled out booze and an
inquest to determine the cause of Toronto's first rave death is likely.

Late last Saturday, police couldn't inject themselves into a crowd of
10,000 at a rave outside The Docks club. Angry Cherry and Commissioner
Sts. residents complained for hours to emergency operators about the noise.

While Boyd said "our officers did take some action" and will shut down
really dangerous raves, police feared crowds angered by losing their $25
admission might riot.

"We have to look at the big picture ... measure our actions against the
possible outcome," he said, adding fire and ambulance crews might not get
into a jammed rave.

He said the force promised several weeks ago to work with the province,
local fire, health, bylaw and zoning officials to develop a strategy.

Procedures to stop the more dangerous illegal raves before they start are
being drawn from a 1997 crackdown on illegal boozecans.

Runciman said they'll look at the producers of these parties and also the
owners who rent them their provincially licensed premises.

"So there are other avenues that we can pursue to assist police in coming
to grips with these kinds of events to ensure that they're not the sites of
significant illegal drugs," he said.

There are also health concerns raised by the parties, which can attract up
to 15,000 people, he added.