' Director Hawk
bows out
gracefully
page 8
Oregon daily _ _
emerald
Friday, December 10, 1982
Eugene. Oregon
Volume 84, Number 69
Laser use lights way
toward bright future
By Frank Shaw
Ol the Emerald
Lasers, those intense beams of light from science fiction
movies and used by rock groups in their shows, have entered the
real world
This was the message delivered by John Moseley, director of
the University chemical physics institute, who spoke on the uses of
lasers in research and the real world Thursday at the Eugene
Conference Center
There are currently 10 different types of research in laser
technology being conducted at the University, according to
Moseley.
One study uses lasers to create and study highly reactive
molecules called radicals which are useful in combustion research.
Another is the use of lasers in holograms Some examples of
holograms made at the University were on display at the presenta
tion But Moseley squashed any hopes of 3-D, holographic movies
any time in the near future, saying he thought it would be a while
before they would become possible
One of the more interesting uses of lasers in the laboratory is in
the study of genetics and gene manipulation
A laser can be used to study biological reactions like the way
hereditary characteristics are passed on and the dynamics of the
replication of DNA Lasers make possible the alteration of the DNA
molecules by a short laser pulse that welds two parts of the DNA
molecule together."
Moseley discussed the use of lasers for medical operations,
and in research into the way the visual system connects with the
brain
The field of medicine is another area where lasers have made a
substantial Impact
"There are a number of interesting properties of lasers that
make them more useful than a surgeon's scalpel in particular
cases," he said
The examples he used involved areas of the throat and ear,
where even the finest scalpel cuts too wide and is too large to wield.
Another advantage the laser has over the surgeon's blade is that it
cauterizes the incision as it cuts, making it useful in areas with the
potential for excessive bleeding
Lasers are also used in surgery involving the eye because the
laser passes directly through the lens of the eye without the use of
an incision Lasers have proved extremely useful in treating
detached retinas
An area of laser use Moseley is worried about is the use of
lasers in rock shows, and the way they're flashed through the
crowds
"I'd close my eyes and get out of there," he said about some
rock shows
The idea of lasers as death rays is still as much science fiction
as it was years ago, Moseley said.
WOSC flunks inspection
by corrections officials
SALEM (AP) - Bob Watson,
the administrator of the state
corrections division, toured the
Western Oregon State College
campus Wednesday to assess
its potential as a future prison
site
But Watson, who took along
architects and members of his
staff, said the college clearly
wasn't suitable for conversion
into a prison.
Watson said he only under
took the analysis because the
Legislature ordered him to do
so In the summer, the Legisla
ture's Emergency Board or
dered Watson to look at several
state facilities and assess their
potential as prisons
In addition to WOSC, the divi
sion was asked to evaluate an
abandoned military base near
Condon in central Oregon, the
Delphian School near Sheridan,
Dammasch State Hospital in
Wilsonville, Eastern Oregon
State Hospital in Pendleton and
the Prigg Cottage Release
Center in southeast Salem.
Watson prefers remodeling
Prigg Cottage into a medium
security prison The cottage is
already used by the division to
house inmates getting ready for
parole Gov Vic Atiyeh’s
proposed budget contains $20
million to pay for the
remodeling
Watson said WOSC was too
big and not at all suited for the
needs of the Corrections Divi
sion. Sen. Jack Ripper, D-North
Bend, had suggested turning
WOSC into a prison. The sena
tor has questioned the need for
the Monmouth school when
Oregon State University and the
University are so near.
Atiyeh's press secretary,
Denny Miles, said Wednesday
that the governor is opposed to
closing WOSC or turning it into
a prison. “They'd have a hard
time getting that across his
desk," Miles said.
Photo by Erich Boekelheide
Nan Henderson, Oregon Free From Drug Abuse staff member and anti-marijuana activist,
explains why she opposes relaxing penalties for pot use and possession.
Pot penalties: pros and cons
By Sean Meyers
O! the Emerald
Editor's Note: This is the last of a three
part series examining current marijuana laws
and proposals for changes
Pro-marijuana forces know that to clear
the path to more relaxed marijuana laws in
Oregon, the 'wheels of justice" will have to roll
over Nan Henderson along the way
To her allies, Henderson, salaried director
of the non-profit Oregon Free From Drug
Abuse, is a champion of a cause.
Under a banner of protecting youth from a
dangerous drug, she has emerged as a leading
opponent of any reductions in penalties for the
possession, sale or cultivation of marijuana.
To her adversaries, Henderson is a
‘‘born-again parent,” with a
“reefer madness" mentality,
a closed-minded political an
imal bent on force-feeding
marijuana scare stories to
gullible children.
Henderson says that
stereotype doesn’t apply to
her because she is not a
mother and was an “occas
sional user” of pot during her
early years as a journalism
and political science student
at the University.
While Henderson isn’t a
parent, many members of
Oregon Free From Drug Abuse are, and she
defends their right to crusade against mar
ijuana if they feel the safety of their children is
jeopardized.
“As far as I know, there is no scientific
evidence that reproduction harms a person’s
intelligence,” she says.
Joe Wilson, spokesman for Oregonians
Cooperating to Reduce Drug Abuse, doesn’t
question Henderson’s intelligence. It is her
reasoning that concerns his organization.
"She cites studies that have no basis in
reality. She’ll point to some report where they
fed some laboratory monkey the equivalent of
20 joints in five minutes every day," says
Wilson. "Then after a while they cut the mon
keys open and find that some of them have
brain damage. The conclusion is that mar
ijuana causes brain damage
‘‘It’s that reefer madness’ type of mentali
ty that’s endangering our kids,” says Wilson, a
father of four.
Henderson says she realized the error of
her former attitude toward marijuana when her
twin brothers, seven years her junior, became
involved with marijuana and other drugs.
Since then, first as a volunteer and for the
past few months as the director of OFFDA,
Henderson has waged war on drug abuse.
She spent two years traveling around
Oregon with another former drug user, Jevon
Thompson, giving anti-drug lectures to
students
The seminar, entitled "Waking Up From
Dope, On the Front of America's Newest
Revolution"’ was the basis of a record on which
Henderson spent her " life-time savings'" to
have produced. She says it has sold about
1,000 copies.
The evidence Henderson most often cites
against marijuana use is a 1982 statement by
U S Surgeon General C Everett Koop and a
1981 statement by the Amer
ican Medical Association.
The AMA, which 10
years ago decided that there
was not enough conclusive
research about marijuana to
take a stance, has moved
from the neutral corner, says
Henderson.
"There is now no doubt
at all that marijuana is a dan
gerous drug, with great po
tential for serious harm to
young American users,” the
report states. " Marijuana is
by no means the harmless
amusement that many believe it to be."
Countering Wilson’s charges that she
encourages “scare” tactics, Henderson says
her organization is "absolutely impeccable,
and blameless, in choosing accurate informa
tion. The only information we use is informa
tion that has come from medical authors. The
truth is scary.”
But she doesn’t deny that she is a nimble
politician.
' We re winning some great battles in
establishing local programs that fight drug
abuse, but we will lose the whole war if mar
ijuana is legalized.”
The most recent battleground between the
pro- and anti-marijuana forces concerned a
state-appointed study group that recommend
ed sweeping reductions in penalties.
Despite the recommendation, a judicial
committee task force considering the state’s
criminal code voted 10-3 to sustain present
penalties because of the “tremendous amount %
of letters and phone calls” initiated by her
organization’s members, says Henderson.