Oregon daily
emerald
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Thursday, July 21, 1983
Eugene, Oregon
Volume 85, Number 9
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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.