An Independent Newspaper
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Vol. 79, No. 73
_
Eugene, Oregon 97403
Thweday, January 6, 1978
Bridge
over
puddled
waters
More than one Eugene resi
dent was caught trying to
bridge the gap between is
lands Thursday when two
and-a-half inches of rain fell on
University students attending
their first classes of the term.
More slippin’, slidin’ and plain
old getting Oregon wet can be
expected today and Saturday
according to weather fore
casts predicting - what else9
- more rain.
Photo by Stover Scher
Will coastal bust curtail Eugene market?
Thai-ing one over on big-time dealers
By KEVIN HARDEN
Of the Emerald
Eugene marijuana users may or
may not be crying over the loss of
nearly eight tons of high-grade
“Thai stick” in what may be the
largest drug bust on the West
Coast last week. No one knows for
certain how the confiscation of the
drug will affect the local marijuana
market, at least not yet.
The marijuana, valued at al
most $20 million, was seized last
weekend in a massive drug bust
that involved federal and Coos
County law enforcement officials.
According to Michael Wright,
head of the U.S. Drug Enforce
ment Administration office in
Eugene, the arrests of 17 East
Coast and California residents
culminated nearly a year’s inves
tigation of a drug smuggling oper
ation located in Coos County near
Banrion.
The arrests were made Dec. 31
by law enforcement officials who
observed the smugglers’ transfer
of marijuana in bales from a
100-foot pleasure boat off the
Oregon coast to a waiting truck by
amphibious vehicles, on the
beach south of Ban don.
After the arrests the marijuana
was transferred under close guard
to Eugene, where it was inciner
ated Wednesday by local law en
forcement officers and the
Eugene Water and Electric Board.
If the destruction of nearly eight
tons of high-grade marijuana
brought tears to local eyes, it has
yet to be noticed. Jerry Beck, of
the University’s Drug Information
Center (DIC), explains because of
limited information gathered
about the arrests and the smuggl
ing operation, it would be difficult
to say what effect the loss of the
drug will have on the local mari
juana market.
“There is quite a bit of Thai stick
around Eugene, but because we
don’t know about their (the smug
glers) distribution plans, it would
be impossible to say whether it
would have eventually ended up
here," Beck says.
It would seem likely that some
of the drug would have ended up
in the Eugene market, Beck exp
lained, but because the smug
glers were stopped before they
could distribute the Thai stick, it
isn’t known how much was in
tended for the West Coast and
how much would have been ship
ped to the East.
So far law enforcement agents
haven’t found a link between the
Oregon arrests and a similar bust
a week ago off the Florida coast.
In that arrest, nearly 110 tons of
marijuana were confiscated.
EWEB uses ‘high’ quality fuel;
eight tons of pot go up in smoke
The Eugene Water and Electric
Board used some ‘high" quality
fuel to power its boilers Wednes
day night.
Even though the marijuana
went up in smoke, it is unlikely
anyone even caught a whiff of it,
according to Vem Adkison, direc
tor of the Lane Regional Air Pollu
tion Authority.
Adkison says the heat pro
duced in the furnace was so ex
treme that the chemically-active
agents in the drug were destroyed
before they went up the smoke
stack.
The unorthodox fuel, however,
did not produce any electricity.
According, to an EWEB plant
operator, the utility’s boilers were
not used to power the turbines but,
instead, were used to produce
steam heat.
EWEB steam is used to heat the
Agripac cannery, city buildings,
Sacred Heart Hospital and Chase
Gardens. None of the pot
powered steam found its way onto
campus. The University’s physical
plant produces the steam heat for
the campus.
If the pot fuel had been used to
produce electricity, Tom Santee,
EWEB spokesman, says the cost
per kilowatt hour would have fig
ured out to $20,000. By compari
son, Santee says a normal
kilowatt hour costs one cent.
Michael Wright, chief of the
Drug Enforcement Agency's
Eugene office, says the marijuana
was stored in the National Guard
Armory on Centennial Boulevard
before being transported to the
EWEB plant.
Extra security measures were
taken to guard the marijuana while
it was in storage and while it was
being burned. Eugene police of
ficers were stationed at the EWEB
plant and plainclothes police
threw the marijuana bundles into
the furnace.
Not all the marijuana seized in
the off-shore raid was burned.
Charles Turner, assistant U.S. at
torney says several hundred
pounds were saved for evidence
in the trial of the 17 men arrested
near Bandon. The trial will be held
in Portland.
Pressure on East Coast
smuggling operations may have
forced smugglers to move to
Oregon, Beck says, primarily be
cause Thai stick, which is grown in
Thailand and shipped across the
Pacific Ocean, would be difficult to
smuggle to the East Coast. Most
of the East Coast marijuana
comes from Colombia, he says,
which is easier to ship through
East Coast ports.
"The Oregon Coast is being
used as a major smuggling point
for the West, there's no doubt
about that,” Mark Miller, also from
the DIC, explains.
Had the smugglers been able to
distribute their loot, Miller specu
lated, most of the marijuana prob
ably would have ended up in Seat
tle, Portland, San Francisco and
other major cities on the coast.
Very little might have found its way
into the Eugene-Springfield mari
juana market, he said.
"Some people have held the
opinion that while it (Thai stick) is
good marijuana, it is somewhat
over-priced for what it is. There
are other drugs that people will
buy over the Thai stick that cost
about the same,” Miller says.
"If s appreciated, but it’s not the
best,” he added.
“How it was to be distributed is
the big question right now,” Beck
says. “But eight tons is enough
pot for quite a few cities, that’s for
sure.”