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Photo hy Maria Corvallis
The End of an Era
Hurt by a lack of funding and a new approach to drug abuse,
the University Drug Information Center
will shut down at the end of June.
BY STANLEY NELSON
In the early 1970s. Eugene had
elements of drug use like other
cities around the country
The issue at hand in Eugene was not
only the legal consequences of drug
use but the physical dangers as well
Education was needed, and as a result
University students formed the Drug In
formation Center in 1972
Spearheaded by then student Mark
Miller, the center operated under
Miller’s leadership until his departure in
1986 Through its stormy and con
troversial history, the DIC has faced
money and public attitude problems,
but everyone has always assumed the
center would remain, says Richard
Schlaadt. DIC liaison officer to the
University and head of the health
education department
Now it appears the center finally will
succumb to a number of pressures,
fragmenting after 16 years of service
leaving student and community needs
unanswered all at a time when drug
Stanley Nelson recently iva.s named editor ot
the Oregon Daily Emerald lor 1(IH7 HS He is a
former assistant editor of Spectrum maya/me
abuse has become one of the nation’s
biggest issues
"The Druy Information Center has
served its purpose, and it should ex
tend its services and be in the different
model," Schlaadt says "it was the tur
mny point when the economy started
hurtiny here regardless of how yood of
a job any of those programs were
doing
"The problem is, to be neutral and to
be objective makes you controversial in
the druy field these days. Miller says
When the DIC formed, there was a
realization that there were totally made
quate servfces to provide for an evolv
ing drug culture a druy culture for
both legal and illegal drugs, he says
The Lane County Joint Social Ser
vice provides more than 40 percent of
the DIC's budget for contracted ser
vices The funding will end June 30,
and the DIC board of advisers has
chosen not to renew its funding request
of $14,265
“(The DIC) has always been
respected in its integrity, and its service
has never been questioned." says
Steve Manela. of the Lane County
Department of Health and Human Ser
vices who coordinates the LCJSS, the
equivalent of a public sector United
Way I le says he sees no reason now
to abandon the center, noting services
are still i>einy provided but at a reduced
level with less funding
“Then the whole question came up.
Are we responsible for something that
is an organization that has a strong af
filiation with the University of Oregon y
I can t say whether or not we would
have funded them this year Manela
says
The concern increased further when
the University student government
froze the Incidental f ee Committee’s
$17,2t>8 budget allocation to the DIG
in February 1986 and refused to fund
the group's current budget
"We can't operate on the amount of
money we have," says current DIG
Director Patti Worthen Hunt, noting
the center's operation this year has
been severely curtailed without II C
funding It also led to the decision not
to apply for LCJSS funding for
1987 88. she adds
The misconception of who funds the
DIG adds to the problem of funding,
with the county agencies assuming the
University will fund the DIG while the
student government assumes the coun
ty should support it. Schlaadt says
"It seems strange that with the war
on drugs and the not'd for more educa
tion and prevention programs th.it it
does not seem like an appropriate time
for an organization like this to go
under,” Worthen Hunt says
Miller agrees Without accurate of)
jective information, the whole state and
not just Lane County and the Universi
ty community will suffer, he says
"This service is going to be discon
tinued as of June 30 The DIC is no
longer It is cold, hard fact at this point
We don’t know if some of our material
is going to be transferred to another
organization to make it accessible to the
community." Worthen Hunt says
"(The DIC board of advisers) is now
tossing those kinds of ideas around
How are we going to gracefully struc
ture the demise of this group, and can’t
we salvage some of what we have been
able to accomplish and still provide a
service?"
“There continues to be a need for
this type of service in the community,
and it is my belief that there are current
ly a number of organizations that are
working on this problem Manela
says
One agency. Lane County's
Community Substance Abuse
Consortium. Inc . already has