The Problem Is The Minors

Published on: April 4, 2000
Source: Edmonton Sun (CN AB)


Kids as young as 14 are getting high and getting hurt at Edmonton's all-night rave parties, and it has local ravers braced for a city hall crackdown.

"I've been to seven or eight raves, and there's been at least one (drug overdose) at almost all of them," said a 21-year-old raver, who asked not to be named. "The problem is the minors. They don't know what they're doing, what they're taking, and they're the ones who OD. "I've seen kids aged 14 and 15 at these things experimenting with drugs."

Six teens wired on ecstasy collapsed yesterday in a crowd of 5,000 at the Ascension 2000 rave at the Northlands Sportex.

Tickets for the event, which was to run from 9 p.m. Saturday to 7 a.m. yesterday, cost $100 at the door.

Rave organizers said the kids suffered seizures brought on by strobe lighting. City cops confirmed the teens had taken ecstasy before falling ill, although one narcotics expert told The Sun it's more likely the seizures were caused by crack or speed.

Ecstasy is the raver's high of choice, and the growing popularity of raves seems to be driving up the street price of the drug in Edmonton.

"A year ago a hit was $20. Now it's $45," said the unnamed raver.

"It's a sensation heightener. It makes everything more intense. Once people get on ecstasy they tend to do whatever else is around - meth (methamphetamine), gas masks (nitrous oxide, or laughing gas)."

A group of 20-something ravers leaving a post-rave party at the Therapy club on 102 Street near 100 Avenue yesterday said teens taking the wrong drugs in the wrong combinations are putting the whole rave scene at risk.

"These are people who were just stupid, who took on more (drugs) than they could handle," said an unnamed raver.

"It wasn't drugs," chimed in Tyler, who worked volunteer security at the Sportex rave. "It was the strobes. I saw them on the ground after they fell. They were conscious, breathing. They calmed down right away."

Paul Ellingham, who works at a Whyte Avenue clothing store which sold tickets to the dance party, said seizures are common at raves.

"Kids stack their drugs. They take ecstasy and horse tranquilizers then smoke some crack," he said. "When the lights kick in, it sets them off."

Dr. Louis Pagliaro, a University of Alberta drug abuse expert, said it's likely the teens had ingested crack or speed rather than ecstasy. "Seizures don't generally happen on ecstasy. It's more likely it was triggered by a psycho-stimulant like crack, cocaine or speed."