Pubdate: Thu, 11 May 2000 Source: See Magazine (CN AB) Copyright: 2000 SEE Magazine Contact: http://www.seemagazine.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2367 Author: Nathaniel Fairbairn Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/raves.htm (Raves) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mdma.htm (Ecstasy) ONE SURE CURE FOR LOCAL RAVE SCENE Raves should be illegal. It's unbelievable that anyone even debates this point. That's the problem with this province and this country today: whiny liberal permissiveness. We all know exactly what raves are all about: drugs and perversion. We all know for fact that anyone who attends raves is using drugs - usually ecstasy. We all know that people are always overdosing on this drug. We've all heard of the 10 people who had to be rushed to the hospital because they overdosed at last month's Ascension 2000 rave. I attended that godless gathering and this is what I saw: Some girl fell off a speaker. Druggie. Some guy had an epileptic fit after staring at the strobe lights for hours. Druggie. A few people passed out from dehydration. Druggies. As for perversion, just think about it: a rave is a place where people gather together and listen to 'music' and dance all night and sit and talk and sniff Vicks Vap-O-Rub and hug one another. Sounds more than a bit gay, don't you think? Over in Ontario, they've got it right. Just over a week ago, Toronto police chief Julian Fantino announced the results of a massive investigation into raves that he called Operation Strike Force. I think that's a really good name for an investigation. Sounds like a video game, maybe. Or maybe like something I might see on my favorite show, VIP. Anyway, after five weeks, they arrested 47 kids on drug-related charges. They also found a couple of guns. Fantino said: "One of the more distressing items for all of us of course is this very serious connection that exists between drugs and guns and young people." He's right. That is distressing. And yet no one seems to care. It's a damn shame what has become of this country. It's a damn shame that nobody in power is doing anything to stamp out the perverted drug culture that is the rave scene. Right, then. Got that? Unless you were raised in a Hutterite colony, your irony and bullshit detector has by now gone off volubly. Clearly, and with reason, I have overstated my case: when it comes to raves, the sweep of popular sentiment is largely uninformed, alarmist and more than a little silly. However, while the reactionary braying of the masses more often serves to silence legitimate concerns about raves than to draw attention to them, this does not mean that legitimate concerns do not exist. The real problems with raves are they are, in fact, almost universally poorly organized and planned, as well as essentially unregulated events. Security is poor. Drug use is high, if not as epidemic as most media would have us believe (I'll leave it to you to decide whether that's really a problem). Facilities often lack appropriate ventilation and water supplies. Because they don't sell alcohol, organizers do not have to comply with any of the vast number of controls placed upon licensed events - controls such as demanding that organizers prove adequate fire safety measures. Arguably most disturbing of all, though, is that because raves are unlicensed, there are no age restrictions save the arbitrary ones imposed by promoters. Thirteen and 14-year-old faces were not uncommon sights at Ascension 2000. When city council performs its review of raves (announced last week), one should hope that it looks at these real problems and is not distracted by the bright and flashing lights of popular anti-drug outrage. With some simple regulations and guidelines, raves can very easily be made safer places for ravers.