Pubdate: Sat, 29 Apr 2000 Source: Toronto Star (CN ON) Copyright: 2000 The Toronto Star Contact: One Yonge St., Toronto ON, M5E 1E6 Fax: (416) 869-4322 Website: http://www.thestar.com/ Forum: http://www.thestar.com/editorial/disc_board/ Author: Michelle Shephard and Tracy Huffman, Staff Reporters OTTAWA URGED TO DEAL WITH RAVES Toronto chief seeks drug education, faults parents While police Chief Julian Fantino called yesterday for federal assistance to deal with drugs and violence at raves in the city, he thinks the problem may begin at home. "I would like the Prime Minister to come and spend one evening with me on the streets and neighbourhoods of this fine city. . . . We'll show him what reality's all about," Fantino told a news conference. The chief said the reality is a city with drugs, guns and youths with no supervision, and the symptoms of those problems are raves and after-hours clubs. In the wake of a month-long crackdown on after-hours clubs and raves by Operation Strike Force, Fantino appealed to Ottawa to initiate a national program on drug education, lamenting that the millions of dollars in funding for drug awareness in the mid-1980s and early '90s are no longer available. The task force, which involved city, Ontario Provincial Police and RCMP officers, seized a variety of drugs - including hashish, marijuana, cocaine and ecstasy. Since most participants at raves are between 14 and 24 years old, Fantino also appealed to the parents of teenagers who are "out all night" to explain the presence of kids at raves. "We know where the children are. The question I'm asking now is do we know where the parents are?" said Fantino, who questioned why some parents would let their children stay out until dawn. The truth is some parents don't realize their teenagers party all night. "Some kids say they're staying at a friend's house for a sleepover. Then that friend says he's staying at the other's house," said one 18-year-old raver, who uses the party name Pixel. "That's a classic line." According to several young people interviewed downtown last night, others sneak out after their parents have gone to bed and make sure they get home before anyone in the house wakes up, explained Pixel's friend, a 17-year-old girl with bright pink hair who uses the party name Poohbear. "I tried that when I was about 14," Poohbear said. "But my parents found out and put plastic stuff over the windows so I couldn't go out." Pixel, who lives with his parents, says if he's going to a rave, he lets his parents know. "I tell them where I go. They're pretty cool," he said. "You shouldn't be hiding it from your parents because if you end up overdosing at a party and you don't have any I.D. on you, it's going to be really hard to notify your parents." The two teens said the rave scene is full of drugs. They said they smoke pot but don't touch the hard stuff. "We just recently lost a friend who overdosed on a whole bunch of E (ecstasy)," Pixel said. "I don't want to end up a statistic in the news . . . lying in the morgue with a tag on my toe that says Jane Doe," Poohbear said. "You have to be smart about it." Both said if teenagers want to go to a rave, they'll get there. At the news conference, Fantino said close to 100 drug-related charges were laid against 47 of the nearly 21,000 people who attended two raves targeted by the task force on March 25 and April 22 at the CNE's Better Living Centre. Without specifically saying that the city will no longer give permits for raves at the CNE, both Fantino and Norm Gardner, chair of the police services board, said yesterday they will "request" that raves no longer be held on those grounds. Part of the latest crackdown included targeting 22 after-hours clubs that have a history of violence. During the first six weeks, 53 arrests were made at these clubs and various weapons were seized, including 12 handguns and two sawed-off shotguns. Operation Strike Force was created following two deadly shootings outside downtown Toronto clubs. Bouncer Andrew Robotham, 32, was shot in the head March 4 and bouncer Christopher Palmer, 25, was killed in a shooting Feb. 14, less than a block away. - --- MAP posted-by: Greg