Publication title: Edmonton Journal
Pages: A17
Pages: A17
Section: Letters
Publication date: Jun 16, 2001
Copyright: Copyright Southam Publications Inc. Jun 16, 2001
Let's get our terminology straight. A "rave" is a controlled and regulated all-night dance party, much like a concert, but it is held at a legitimate location where parents and other adults are fully aware of its purpose.
"All-night dance clubs" or "after-hours clubs" are strictly money- making enterprises, feeding off the vulnerability of the youth who frequent them, as well as the lack of awareness of the parents and public who are only now beginning to realize what a serious issue this is.
These clubs are promoted by creating glamorous and cool pamphlets and soliciting near junior and senior high schools.
These pamphlets are aimed at 13-, 14- and 15-year-olds, (though they are supposed to be clubs for 16 and over) enticing them to frequent their downtown clubs, which open at midnight.
Children are enticed to stay until 7 a.m. and are unable to function at school or in any other aspect of their lives.
These are not street kids. These are middle-class kids with good parents. Many parents assume they are being run for the good of the child, as there is no drinking allowed.
Make no mistake, these are money-making ventures fuelled by self- interest and aimed at the most vulnerable children who become hooked on these clubs by the glamorization of drugs and dancing all night.
Sadly, many of these children do end up on the streets.
If this is to become an election issue for city council, which it might, restrict these after-hours clubs to those 18 and older and give the police the resources to enforce the law.
D.C. Wilcox, Edmonton
The idea that raves should stay open late but anyone under 18 should be turfed at midnight gave me a chuckle.
Have you thought this through?
You are in a club with 2,000 people and suddenly at midnight everyone under 18 voluntarily walks out the door with a cheery goodnight?
Or maybe when people arrive, adults are given a green stamp on their forehead and under-18s are given red. Then at midnight a burly security person walks through the crowd, taps all the reds on the shoulder and they all walk out with no fuss.
It would only take one or two objections and a riot would ensue, and soon a fight, a stabbing, or a death.
Wouldn't it be far smarter to say rave clubs are only available to people over 18, do proper ID checks at the door, let them stay open 24/7, and let God sort it out?
A. Babichuk, Edmonton
OK. It's 3:30 a.m. Do you know where your children are? The answer is no.
They were all kicked out of the clubs a half an hour ago. Or, if they were under the age of 18, they were booted out over three hours ago.
Now they could be:
1. Out tagging the sides of city buildings.
2. Making noise. (You would be too if you were forced out into the cold/rain at 3 a.m. when no buses run. Kids don't have a lot of money for cabs.)
3. Driving under the influence. Hmmm ... before, they at least had time to sober up before they got behind the wheel.
4. Sitting at a friend's house, doing drugs. This is an unsupervised place where that sort of thing is easy to do, without getting caught.
5. Dancing at an unsupervised event in an undisclosed location, where there are no rules or regulations to ensure safety.
Parents, right now, you have it lucky. The kids are out all night, but you know where they are in a supervised environment with readily available water and information on the dangers of drugs.
Because a law tells us to leave at 3 a.m., it does not guarantee that we will go home at 3 a.m. You can't just take away our rights and pretend we don't exist.
L. Heppell, Edmonton
All I hear about is raves are bad this and raves are bad that. Do you remember when rock and roll arrived?
It was associated with drinking, smoking and all the bad stuff back in those days.
Now rock and roll is classic, the "good old days." When the millennium hit and we weren't driving hover cars and wearing space suits you've got to admit we were all kind of disappointed, but at the same time most adults were shocked at the fact that electronica is the rock and roll of the new millennium.
I happen to be a raver. I'm 16 and a recovered drug addict. I have first-hand experience with the drugs and the scene.
I'm getting really annoyed by the fact that parents concerned about "rave drugs" blame the scene and the clubs and not their kids.
Drugs are at the rave clubs but they're everywhere else too.
Just because you go to the club doesn't mean that someone is going to shove pills down your throat or pressure you into taking them.
Parents, politicians and other concerned adults, I urge you to remember that the teens that do these drugs have their own minds and make their own decisions and ruining the dance clubs for everybody won't stop your kids from selling and doing the drugs, so maybe it's time to rethink your plans.
And just for the record, crystal meth is the most popular drug on the streets right now.
L. McKenna, Edmonton
Publication date: Jun 16, 2001
Copyright: Copyright Southam Publications Inc. Jun 16, 2001
- After-hours clubs prey on vulnerable:
Let's get our terminology straight. A "rave" is a controlled and regulated all-night dance party, much like a concert, but it is held at a legitimate location where parents and other adults are fully aware of its purpose.
"All-night dance clubs" or "after-hours clubs" are strictly money- making enterprises, feeding off the vulnerability of the youth who frequent them, as well as the lack of awareness of the parents and public who are only now beginning to realize what a serious issue this is.
These clubs are promoted by creating glamorous and cool pamphlets and soliciting near junior and senior high schools.
These pamphlets are aimed at 13-, 14- and 15-year-olds, (though they are supposed to be clubs for 16 and over) enticing them to frequent their downtown clubs, which open at midnight.
Children are enticed to stay until 7 a.m. and are unable to function at school or in any other aspect of their lives.
These are not street kids. These are middle-class kids with good parents. Many parents assume they are being run for the good of the child, as there is no drinking allowed.
Make no mistake, these are money-making ventures fuelled by self- interest and aimed at the most vulnerable children who become hooked on these clubs by the glamorization of drugs and dancing all night.
Sadly, many of these children do end up on the streets.
If this is to become an election issue for city council, which it might, restrict these after-hours clubs to those 18 and older and give the police the resources to enforce the law.
D.C. Wilcox, Edmonton
- Close the doors on those under 18:
The idea that raves should stay open late but anyone under 18 should be turfed at midnight gave me a chuckle.
Have you thought this through?
You are in a club with 2,000 people and suddenly at midnight everyone under 18 voluntarily walks out the door with a cheery goodnight?
Or maybe when people arrive, adults are given a green stamp on their forehead and under-18s are given red. Then at midnight a burly security person walks through the crowd, taps all the reds on the shoulder and they all walk out with no fuss.
It would only take one or two objections and a riot would ensue, and soon a fight, a stabbing, or a death.
Wouldn't it be far smarter to say rave clubs are only available to people over 18, do proper ID checks at the door, let them stay open 24/7, and let God sort it out?
A. Babichuk, Edmonton
- Curfew can't force kids to head home:
OK. It's 3:30 a.m. Do you know where your children are? The answer is no.
They were all kicked out of the clubs a half an hour ago. Or, if they were under the age of 18, they were booted out over three hours ago.
Now they could be:
1. Out tagging the sides of city buildings.
2. Making noise. (You would be too if you were forced out into the cold/rain at 3 a.m. when no buses run. Kids don't have a lot of money for cabs.)
3. Driving under the influence. Hmmm ... before, they at least had time to sober up before they got behind the wheel.
4. Sitting at a friend's house, doing drugs. This is an unsupervised place where that sort of thing is easy to do, without getting caught.
5. Dancing at an unsupervised event in an undisclosed location, where there are no rules or regulations to ensure safety.
Parents, right now, you have it lucky. The kids are out all night, but you know where they are in a supervised environment with readily available water and information on the dangers of drugs.
Because a law tells us to leave at 3 a.m., it does not guarantee that we will go home at 3 a.m. You can't just take away our rights and pretend we don't exist.
L. Heppell, Edmonton
- The rock and roll of new millennium:
All I hear about is raves are bad this and raves are bad that. Do you remember when rock and roll arrived?
It was associated with drinking, smoking and all the bad stuff back in those days.
Now rock and roll is classic, the "good old days." When the millennium hit and we weren't driving hover cars and wearing space suits you've got to admit we were all kind of disappointed, but at the same time most adults were shocked at the fact that electronica is the rock and roll of the new millennium.
I happen to be a raver. I'm 16 and a recovered drug addict. I have first-hand experience with the drugs and the scene.
I'm getting really annoyed by the fact that parents concerned about "rave drugs" blame the scene and the clubs and not their kids.
Drugs are at the rave clubs but they're everywhere else too.
Just because you go to the club doesn't mean that someone is going to shove pills down your throat or pressure you into taking them.
Parents, politicians and other concerned adults, I urge you to remember that the teens that do these drugs have their own minds and make their own decisions and ruining the dance clubs for everybody won't stop your kids from selling and doing the drugs, so maybe it's time to rethink your plans.
And just for the record, crystal meth is the most popular drug on the streets right now.
L. McKenna, Edmonton
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