Pubdate: Wed, 21 Jul 1999
Source: Daily News Journal (TN)
Contact:  http://dnj.edge.net/index.ez

RAVE PARTIES TURN OUR CHILDREN INTO DRUGGED MORONS

DNJ Opinion Column

As if parents don't have enough to worry about these days with marijuana,
crack cocaine, alcohol, fast cars and unprotected sex all tempting to turn
the lives of their children upside down, now, we have found out about a new
wave sweeping the country.

It's called a Rave party, and it can attract thousands of young people, some
of whose parents drop them off, believing the event is a youth conference
designed to help their children cope with life.

But this stuff won't help anybody. It can only hurt them and make them act
stupid. The 2,000 people between ages 15 and 30 who attended a Rave party
last Friday in Smyrna used LSD, marijuana, ecstasy, Xanax and Valium while
dancing to techno music.

It must have been an odd sight for sheriff's-Murfreesboro narcotics
detectives who watched as partygoers who had been taking ecstasy sucked on
pacifiers and Blo Pops. Some of the participants sniffed inhalers and blew
the stuff into each others' eyes, detectives said.

Partygoers were paying $5 for bottles of water because the combination of
alcohol and ecstasy causes the body to overheat.

Throw in some toothpaste, mouth pieces, inhalers and breath fresheners, and
the party people were having a real expensive time.

Sounds to us like someone is making a whole lot of money off kids who don't
know any better. Apparently, Web sites on the Internet keep people up to
date on the latest Rave happenings, and partygoers across the country can
send in pictures of their favorite Rave party.

The favorite drug of Ravers apparently is ecstasy, a drug that intensifies
the senses but at the same time makes the tongue swell, thus the pacifiers
and Blo Pops.

The need to suck on a pacifier should make these youngsters understand that
when they go to a Rave party, they are being childish. Instead of making
them hip, drugs like ecstasy turn their brains into mush and destroy their
lives.

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