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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (May 22, 1981)
Paraquat bill would increase spraying By MIKE RUST 01 the Emerald Paraquat spraying may be resumed in the United States, Colombia and Mexico if bills currently in the U S. Congress are enacted. “We anticipate that we will see dome stic paraquat spraying within this year,” says Joe Wilson of People Effectively Appealing for Canabis Equality, a Lane County group working for liberalized marijuana laws. HR2364, sponsored by Rep. Billy Lee Evans, D-Ga., would release $8 million for a marijuana eradication program in Colombia. A bill in the U.S. Senate, sponsored by Sam Nunn, D-Ga., would allow the Drug Enforcement Agency to use military arsenals to enforce drug laws. This bill would allow the DEA to use satellites in pinpointing, through color coding, the locations of marijauna farms. Wilson says this probably would wipe out independent growers, making it ea sier for organized crime to become in volved in the production of marijuana. Paraquat spraying in 1978 increased consumption of domestic marijuana by an estimated 10 percent — from 5 to 15 percent, he says. A White House report claims that 10 states grow large quantities of mar ijuana. Oregon, California, Hawaii and Arizona already are the targets of sur veillance overflights coordinated by the DEA and federal officials, Wilson says. People concerned about the possible resumption of paraquat spraying should Emerald Graphic "write their representatives, U S. sena tors and the White House and give their opinion about this wasteful use of resources,’’ Wilson says. A paraquat spraying program in Mexico that was halted in 1978 cost $100 million, Wilson says. If enacted, the proposed spraying in Colombia would cost $25 million over the next decade, Wilson says, describing the price as “outrageous” in this time of budget cuts. “We say you won’t solve any kind of marijuana abuse by invading people's homes and violating their constitutional rights." The halt to Mexican spraying came in 1978 as a result of the Percy Amendment. Sponsored by Sen. Charles Percy, R-lll., the legislation requires that all paraquat-sprayed marijuana be marked as a warning. The DEA currently is lobbying for appeal of the amendment, and Percy himself no longer is inclined to oppose paraquat spraying, Wilson says. Congressional supporters of the par aquat spraying have contended that 1978 government studies linking the smoking of herbicide-contaminated marijuana to possible lung damage were "greatly exaggerated," according to Wilson. But the Atlanta-uased Federal Center for Disease Control stands by earlier reports to the contrary, Wilson adds. The center says studies indicate that smoking paraquat-contaminated mar ijuana can, over a period of time, produce a condition known as “fibrosis” — the permanent scarring of lung tissue. This possible health risk prompted Colombia’s minister of government German Zea to undertake an $8-million marijuana eradication program. An At lanta newspaper reported at the same time that many Colombians claim the United States is using paraquat to cut off competition for American growers, a claim Wilson says is “significant.” Olum clarifies statement about closing one university University Pres. Paul Olum's tough talk Wednesday has alarmed some people At his Wednesday student address, he indicated that if the Legislature cut the state higher education budget by 16 percent, the state should close one of the three major Universi ties and consolidate resources at the other two. Confusion has reigned since, and Olum's clar ification follows: One of the students asked what I thought the conseque nces would be if our budget were cut at a level of 16 percent or beyond. As part of my response I said, with consider able heat, that I felt that a budget cut at that level would so thoroughly destroy our pro grams and reduce all of the in stitutions to such mediocrity that, if that came to pass, I would prefer to make a public recommendation that one of the three major comprehensive un iversities be closed rather than have all of them face such a disastrous cut. I did not have in mind any one of the institutions nor do I intend to be pointing the finger at an yone We are all in this together and I am perfectly aware that my statement includes putting the University of Oregon at risk in any such decision. Nonetheless, I feel strongly that a budget reduction at anything like the 20 percent level would make this University completely unable to function as a scholarly institution of quality in the country. The continuation of three less than mediocre un iversities would little serve the interests of the state and I would rather see one closed and resources consolidated to maintain two first-rate institu tions even if the one to be closed were the University of Oregon. I take it from the strong response of the students who were present that what they, too, want is quality university education in this state and not three institutions unworthy of the name university. Nuke hearing set on memorial vote A proposed state memorial calling for a bilateral mora torium on the nuclear arms race is scheduled for a hearing Monday in Salem at the Legislature. Senate Joint Memorial 5, which was adopted by the state senate on April 15, would ask the U.S. Congress and president to establish as national policy that the United States will never be the first nation to use nuclear weapons in international conflict. The memorial also would ask Congress to propose to the Soviet Union a mutual freeze on all further testing, production and deployment of nuclear weapons. And if such a freeze is mutually agreed upon, the memorial asks that the funds that would have been used for those purposes be transferred to civilian use. Monday’s hearing before a subcommittee of the House Justice Committee begins at 1:30 p.m. Those interested in attending or testifying should contact the Survival Center, which is providing transportation, at 686-4356.
