Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (July 21, 1983)
Oregon daily emerald A , ,1 Thursday, July 21, 1983 Eugene, Oregon Volume 85, Number 9 P m m Photo by Mark Pynes Mark Miller, director of the Drug Information Center, echoes Detective Gary Nauta of the Eugene police that amphetamine and look-alike drug use are ■ up. Drug center director says ‘speed’, look-alike drug use increasing By Deborah Janes Of tha Emerald The recreational use of "speed” or amphetamines has increased in popularity on campus and around the state in the past year, according to Mark Miller, director of the Drug Information Center. "We have had a massive influx of phone calls from people wanting in formation about them,” he says. Amphetamine production and distribution were restricted by the Food and Drug Administration in 1972. But “look-alike” drugs are cur rently being sold on the streets, ac cording to Miller. The pills and capsules have phar maceutical markings on them, but they are totally inaccurate. They in crease alertness and produce euphoria, says Miller. Miller says the look-alikes have in gredients that produce effects com parable to, or slightly stronger than, the restricted amphetamines. Students use them as a study aid or simply for their stimulating effects. The drug has numerous side ef fects, such as an increase in blood pressure and heart rate, headache, nausea, and possible insomnia and post-high depression, Miller says. Although the user may become “compulsively and functionally dependent" on the look-alike, it is not physically addictive, Miller says He attributed the pill’s popularity to their increased availability. “The Universal Life Church” circulated envelopes on campus last year with “for dorms with high drug usage” printed on the outside — inside were sheets with pictures of the drugs and an address of where to obtain them. The availability of the drug led the Oregon House to pass a bill making the distribution of the look-alikes a misdemeanor, Miller says. Methamphetamine, nicknamed “crank,” is a more powerful stimulant than the amphetamine look-alikes. “We have definitely seen an in crease in the use of “crank” in Lane County,” says Eugene Police Detec tive Gary Nauta of the vice-narcotics unit. “There are local clandestine labs putting out more of it.” The inundation of amphetamines will end when the public becomes better educated, says Miller. This educational process must begin at a “very, very young age,” to counter balance the “massive quantity of advertising for all kinds of drugs.” “We live in a society that en courages the use of recreational drugs without ever showing the pro blems they cause," he says. Attorney General OKs law clinic’s activities By Brooks Dareff Ot the Emerald The University’s Environmental Law opposition from what Director Michael Axline refers to as "the darker forces.” Axline refers to as "the darker forces.” In a nine-page opinion made at the request of Chancellor Bud Davis and Rep. Max Simpson, D-Baker, the state Attorney General’s office OK’d the clinic’s off-campus activities, in cluding a case being litigated in Idaho. The specific case in question is a “suit (which) seeks to forestall the U.S. Forest Service from the construction of a particular road in Idaho on the basis of alleged breaches of en vironmental statutes and regulations.” The case is a landmark for University clinics because it is the first filed in a federal district court by any of the over 140 members of the Association of American Law Schools. The request for an opinion was in itiated by Simpson, who inquired through the Chancellor’s office. Davis then forwarded a letter to Attorney General Dave Frohnmayer on March 11. The opinion letter cites the endorse ment of clinical legal education by the President of the American Bar Association and the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. It also defends the operation of such a clinic by a public institution by saying that the interests of a clinic attorney’s client do not necessarily represent the position of the University. Controversy is no stranger to the En vironmental Law Clinic, one of four clinics in the law school. Last year, the clinic disentangled itself from National Wildlife Federation support after a controversy developed over funding methods. Two years ago, Eugene sawmill owner Aaron Jones attempted to pressure University officials into Michael Axline closing the clinic by withholding a $250,000 donation to the University. More recently, Sen. Mike Thorne,’ D Pendleton, said he wanted to look into getting rid of “certain professors” who were using their positions in the clinic as political soapboxes. Axline downplayed the most recent challenge to the clinic, saying that he has encountered little to make him fear closure of the clinic. In litigation of this kind, opposition is common, he says. “The University administration now recognizes that we are their program, the legislature has been supportive, and Chancellor Davis has been suppor tive," he says. Simpson was “disappointed" in the ruling. "It’s a case of the fox watching the henhouse,” he says. Simpson says he decided to pursue an opinion from the Attorney General because he wanted to bring the issue out in the open. Board mulls fee increase Although tuition rates are expected to be frozen for the 1983-85 biennium at Oregon’s eight public colleges and universities, incidental and health ser vice fees may increase slightly. The State Board of Higher Education will consider an amendment concern ing fees at its meeting Friday at Portland State University. The amendment would raise the University’s health service fees from $29.50 to $33 in 1983-84; incidental fees would rise from $42 to $56; and a study resources fee for law students would rise from $200 to $300 per semester. These specific figures per tain only to the University and vary slightly among institutions. The board will also vote on whether to charge part-time students graduate tuition rates for courses numbered 400G-g and 500, even if students take them for undergraduate credits. Cur rently those specific courses are assessed at undergraduate tuition rates when they are not taken for graduate credit. A public hearing regarding the pro posed fee changes will be held during the board meeting Friday at 10:30 a.m. in Smith Hall at PSU. At a special meeting Thursday even ing, board members will vote on whether to implement the Base Alloca tion System, a plan which would con sider an institution’s instruction and research costs, campus and building maintenance costs and enrollment when distributing higher education funds. Although University Pres. Paul Olum supported the “concept” of BAS, he opposed its formula because it was “too large, too complex and has too many parameters to be correct." Board Pres. Robert Ingalls suspects the board will “move gradually” into the new allocation system instead of implementing it immediately. “I don’t think we'll abandon it,” Ingalls said in a phone interview Tuesday. The Legislature has been “begging” for a replacement to the old allocation method, which only considered an in stitution’s enrollment figures when distributing funds, Ingalls said. “Lack of money” among higher ed institutions is the main reason the board probably will not implement BAS now, he said. If BAS is approved, the University’s budget will be cut 1.8 per cent and 2.7 percent in 1983-84 and 1984-85, respectively.
