Oregon daily emerald., April 13, 1973, Page 13, Image 13

Rivers on marijuana
Socially acceptable for a kid,
misunderstood by adults
By JOSH MARQUIS
Of the Emerald
When Jim Rivers talks to adult
groups about drugs, he says that
marijuana may or may not be
harmful, but it is illegal. He says
the same thing when he talks to
school groups. Jim Rivers is a
detective on the Eugene Police
Department.
Rivers is assigned out of the
juvenile division to handle all
juvenile affairs for the schools
serving the South Eugene High
School area. He has been a
policeman for almost eight years
and has been on the juvenile team
for more than two. He just
returned from the Institute for
Social Concerns in Oakland,
California.
The Institute helps educate
counselors, educators...and
policemen in various aspects of
drug abuse. Rivers explains that
much of the two-week session
dealt with counseling and the
social awareness in a community
to “the drug problem.”
Wednesday, Rivers gave one of
the talks he gives frequently upon
request of clubs or schools. This
time he addreseed the luncheon
meeting of the Eugene Civitans.
1£ith him he brought what he
calls his “drug board”, which is a
display of various illicit drugs
seized by the police.
The audience at this Wed
nesday’s talk was composed
almost entirely of businessmen in
their early forties. Rivers
started off by saying that he has
found “that adults have a whole
lot of misconceptions about drugs
and that sometimes the kids are
much more knowledgeable.’’
Rivers pointed out that adults
who smoke cigarettes or drink
alcohol are consuming drugs and
that it’s “just as socially ac
ceptable for a kid to smoke a joint
as it is for an adult to have a
drink.” Rivers told the Civitans
that “things were a lot different
when we were kids 15 years ago,
sometimes we have to look at it
from the kids’ side.”
Detective Rivers explained to
his audience that some people
persist in the belief that LSD has
some legitimate usage. “It has
no medical use,” said Rivers,
“and it doesn’t come in nice little
clean capsules, people mix it up
in their bathtubs and it frequently
isn’t very pure.” Responding to a
question about alleged
chromosome damage by LSD,
Rivers replied that tests haven’t
shown anything conclusive and
that he believes “the
psychological dangers far out
weigh the physiological
dangers.”
Rivers said that his experience
has shown that “the biggest rip
off in town is the sale of all kinds
of garbage as mescaline when
there has been only one recent
sample that actually proved to be
mescaline.”
Another man asked if Rivers
agreed that marijuana led to
harder drugs. Rivers answered,
“I don’t subscribe to the theory
that grass necessarily leads to
other narcotics, it may well be
that some decide to go on to
booze.”
After his talk Rivers answered
questions about drugs and ex
plained the uses of the roach clips
and hypos displayed on his drug
board. Det. Rivers explained
that he doesn’t try to tell anyone
kids or adults — that drugs are
“bad for you.” He just tells them
they are illegal and what some of
the effects of the drugs can be.
Rivers spoke highly of the
University’s Drug Information
Center and its director, Mark
Miller. He and Miller will be
giving talks together, and Rivers
is already working with White
Bird Socio-Medical Clinic on
various drug education
programs.
“Adults, as well as kids... but
particularly adults, should know
the real facts about drugs, so they
can discuss the problem
knowledgeably and in
telligently,” says Rivers.
The making of a *state insect’
as if Salem isn’t buggy enough
There is a movement in the au
to give Oregon a state insect.
The Oregon rain beetle
(Pleocoma oregonensis) has
been nominated in House Con
current Resolution 5, sponsored
by Rep. Paul Walden of Hood
River. The resolution has been
tabled, apparently without hope
of resurrection, in the En
vironment and Land Use Com
mittee.
What is an Oregon rain beetle?
It's big, shiny, black with golden
fur, and it feeds off the state tree,
the Douglas fir.
Only the males fly. And they fly
only during the fall monsoon
months of September through
November. And only at 35
degrees Fahrenheit. And only in
the morning. And only if it’s
raining.
The females are burrowers.
They remain at the entrances to
the burrows and exude an odor to
attract males, several of whom
are certain to arrive on her
doorstep. The scramble for her
favors usually leaves many of the
males maimed and dying.
The female lives on after
mating, although the males will
die within a week. In the spring
following the mating, the females
will lay eggs around the roots of
trees. The beetles take nine to 13
years to mature — the second
longest known insect life cycle,
exceeded only by the locust. The
grubs live in the soil, which will
contain beetles and grubs at all
stages of growth.
The Oregon rain beetle lives
mainly in Oregon, which is the
reason the Oregon Entomological
Society supports its nomination
for state bug. The beetle causes
some problems with the roots of
fruit orchards, but generally
lives in harmony with native
vegetation. It is not a pest, and
some people think it is pretty.
The Oregon rain beetle is not an
import, as is the honeybee, which
is the Arkansas state insect.
Rep. Walden’s secretary,
Eleanor Blundell, has heard
gossip around the capitol that the
resolution to give Oregon a state
bug may be taken off the table of
the committee. Hie bug has
received the enthusiastic support
of the Salem Rainmakers and the
James. G. Blaine Society.
Loren Russell, secretary of the
Oregon Entomological Society
and de facto chairman of the
Society’s bug committee, is
coordinating the campaign from
his office in the Entomology
Department at Oregon State
University, where he is a
graduate student.
University students may be
happy to learn that there is a
colony of Oregon rain beetles on
Spencer’s Butte, five miles south
of Eugene. This colony is one of
five related species to be found
throughout the state.
The beetle not only tolerates
Oregon’s cool rainy climate, but
it must have it to survive. Hie
beetle is one of the most primitive
living members of the “scarab”
family, and its ancestry goes
back to the Age of Reptiles. The
Oregon species has grown up
with Oregon, making its adap
tation to Oregon forests down
through geologic history.
Four other states now have
state insects, along with state
trees, flowers, birds, mottos,
flags, seals and animals.
California chose the dogface
butterfly. Florida has the-Chinese
praying mantis. Arkansas picked
the honeybee, and Iowa is con
sidering the lady bug.
Wingard — tax plan
is ‘non-progressive’
A dichotomy exists in the
McCall Tax Plan which may
result in a non-progressive tax,
according to Sen. George
Wingard (R-Eugene).
Wingard, who spoke to the
Rubicon Society on Friday, said
the tax program had been divided
into sides with homeowners on
one side, business on the other
and a line drawn down the
middle. No money can be shifted
across between the two, Wingard
said.
Wingard supports the
homeowners’ side but not the
business side. “They should give
homeowners tax relief, and leave
business like it is,” he said.
“Anytime you tax business and
they pass it on to the consumer, it
is going to be non-progressive.”
And the McCall Tax Plan in
cludes a business profits tax.
Gov. McCall initiated the plan,
and Wingard believed the
“Governor should be
congratulated on taking the ball
and running withjt.” The plan,
which would increase the state
funding of schools from 21 to 95
percent also includes a raise in
the income tax.
ri
9:00 P.M. Saturday April 14
Lane County Fairgrounds
$3.00 in advance
$3.50 at the door
Chrystalship
Tickets available at
Sun Shop Swine Brothers
Sponsored by YVittkow
EMU
APPLICATIONS are now
AVAILABLE FOR THE POSITION
OF THE
OREGON DAILY EMERALD
r
THE POSITION IS OPEN TO ALL
STUDENTS CARRYING AT LEAST
6 HOURS SPRING TERM
The Kmerald is an equal opportunity
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encouraged to* apply.
APPLY AT 301 ALLEN HALL
DEADLINE IS APRIl, 1 6
SICK of the ASUO MESS???
ASUO
V.P.
ASUO
Pres.
CATHY DOUG
FITZPATRICK MARSHALL
“The A.S.U.O. should serve the real, immediate
and long range needs of all students and all
student groups. Individuals who value their time
and money don't need juvenile student
politicians and defiant U.O. administrators."
CATHY FITZPATRICK, DOUG MARSHALL
"I urge your support of Doug Marshall and Cathy
Fitzpatrick in the upcoming ASUO elections.
"Their background and experience qualify them as
the most logical choice for the ASUO executive
positions."
David Larry
(1972 Lane Co. Sherriff Candidate)
(White Bird Bd.of Dir.)
(Project Newgate)
A.S.U.O. Primary A.S.U.O. General
VOTE APRIL 17, 18 VOTE APRIL 23, 24
VOTE DOUG/CATHY