EX-LAPD OFFICER WARNS OF RAVE DANGERS

Many Ohio County High School students have heard friends and out-of-state
relatives talk about attending raves, all-night dance parties with unusual
sound and lighting effects.

About 40 students and 30 adults had the chance Monday to see and learn
about what they are missing during a two-hour presentation by Trinka
Porrata, a retired Los Angeles police officer and drug expert.

"It's just really scary," said Kirby Thompson, a 16-year-old junior at Ohio
County High School. "It really gets your heart racing thinking about it."

Porrata showed the crowd of students, educators, business people and
pastors video footage of a California rave that attracted thousands of
people. Porrata also displayed a table top full of seemingly innocent
products such as small bottles, candy wrappers, flashing light toys and
pacifiers, which may be used to carry or conceal the drugs and are
considered drug paraphernalia.

The presentation was offered at the Render Center in Hartford and followed
a community meeting for the Together We Care coalition. An additional
presentation was offered Monday evening for parents. Porrata will be in
Owensboro today to offer two presentations, including a daylong training
segment geared toward professionals and an evening segment, which is geared
toward college students and other adults.

Porrata's presentation destroyed the myth that raves are places where the
drug Ecstasy is distributed for a free-love type of atmosphere. The video
footage showed multiple scenarios of highly intoxicated people dancing,
falling, becoming transfixed by flashing lights, occasionally passing out
and sometimes being groped and massaged by strangers of the same and
opposite sex.

Use of Ecstasy and other club drugs causes the body to overheat and
produces an unquenchable thirst, she said. Some rave providers have been
recorded shutting off water in buildings, turning up the heat and selling
bottles of water for $20, she said.

Porrata supplemented her footage with news segments by programs such as
NBC's "Dateline" and "Today." The news programs included coverage of a
California teen who was brain damaged after snorting ketamine with her
boyfriend. Ketamine, which is known by its street name of "Special K," is
an animal tranquilizer, which is sometimes abused as a club drug.

Other television news programs portrayed the effects of the "date rape"
drug GHB, which is also known as liquid Ecstasy. One man stopped by police
on suspicion of drunken driving repeatedly fell over while talking to
police and broke his ankle during one of the falls. In another program, a
young boy videotaped his father flailing out of control, which was in
response to adverse effects of using GHB.

The bulk of Porrata's displays and video footage featured club drug use
such as Ecstasy and GHB, but she also discussed prescription drug abuse,
hallucinogenics, methamphetamine and common over-the-counter drugs. One
particular brand of decongestant pill, which has been the topic of a
television news magazine, gives users a hallucinogenic high when taken in
doses of 30 pills.

"Again, this is not a 'how to,' it's a 'why not to,' " Porrata said. "We've
got to get over this: 'It's not in my school. It's not my kid.' "

The students in attendance are part of the Together We Care coalition. The
students, many of whom will go to college in large cities or out-of-state,
were shocked by the presentation.

"The cat tranquilizers, I've never heard of that," said Kourtney Keown, a
17-year-old junior at OCHS. "I have a stepsister who has told me about
these things (raves). I'm kind of worried about her."

Another student, Meredith Ward, 16, an OCHS junior, said she became worried
for her 12-year-old brother after seeing footage of 5- and 7-year-old
children who were taken to a rave by a parent. Ward's father is a
pharmacist and she has heard about drug abuse, but many of the details
about club drugs were eye-opening, she said.

Porrata asked those in attendance how many of them would choose to consume
paint stripper, drain cleaner or other substances that dissolve Styrofoam.
Anyone using meth, GHB or cocaine has consumed these products, she said.

One photograph shown by Porrata featured a meth lab constructed in a dirty
toilet.

"People on meth are the most dangerous people on earth," Porrata said.

Porrata recommended that parents seeking advice about how to talk with
children or notice the warning signs read the book "Unglued & Tattooed" by
Sara Trollinger with Mike Yorkey.

"The bottom line for parents is talk to your kids, pay attention," she
said. "And for kids: Talk to your parents."

To Attend

Trinka Porrata will offer a presentation for adults who are college-aged
and older from 6:30 to 8:30 tonight at the lecture hall in the Science and
Technology building at Brescia University.