anabolic frolic

More could die if raves stifled, official warns
By JAMES RUSK
MUNICIPAL AFFAIRS REPORTER
THE GLOBE AND MAIL

Wednesday, August 29, 2001

The chairman of the Toronto Board of Health warned yesterday that young people's lives are being endangered by police actions that are driving raves underground.

The chairman, Councillor Joe Mihevc, said in an interview after a press conference by dance promoters that if raves are forced underground, the city will likely experience another death like that of Allan Ho's. The Ryerson University student died in 1999 after using the drug ecstasy at an illegal rave.

"You don't know where they are, you have absolutely no control over water, you have absolutely no one there from ambulance services and no police officers there," Mr. Mihevc said.

"If it is an above-ground rave, then you have all those social supports and security measures there in place, and if someone does happen to get sick, something life-threatening happens to them, they can be attended to rather quickly."

Last year, Toronto Council adopted a protocol for the holding of raves on city property. It requires that the promoter hire police duty officers, provide free water and have ambulances standing by.

While council talked about needing one paid-duty officer for each 500 patrons expected at a rave, the protocol, which promoters of raves on private property also try to follow, did not set guidelines for the number of paid-duty officers required because this was deemed an operational decision by the police.

At its news conference, dance-promoters' representatives said police, using that latitude, are trying to ruin their business by imposing unnecessary costs for policing the events.

Will Chang, a Toronto lawyer who is the executive director of an electronic-music event to be held at Nathan Phillips Square Sept. 2, told reporters that because of police demands some events have been cancelled at the last minute and a number of promoters lost thousands of dollars on ones that were held.

He said the police department does not have to justify the number of officers needed at an event, and it is now assigning five to 10 times as many as it did before council adopted its rules last year.

"There is no process by which to get that [policing] decision reviewed. It's up to the discretion [of a police officer], and whenever you have a discretion that is unfettered like that, it opens up the possibility of abuse," Mr. Chang said.

He also said that any trust that had been building up last year between the rave operators and the police has been broken.