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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 16, 2001)
An independent newspaper www.dailyemerald.com ||§i : to Duck soup * The Oregon men’s and women’s hoops teams lose heartbreakers to Washington State. PAGE 7 Earning accolades Chemistry professor Geraldine Richmond was named the Outstanding Scientist for2001. PAGE 4 since i^uu University of Oregon Eugene, Oregon Friday February 16,2001 Volume 102, Issue 96 Weather TODAY MOSTLY CLOUDY high 48, low 25 Cocaine use is not out of stvle ■A rising number of first-time cocaine users means the drug didn’t go out with the‘80s By Rebecca Wilson Oregon Daily Emerald Author’s Note: Students’ names have been changed at their request to protect their privacy. Courtnee Frier thought she knew just what to expect when she decid ed to stop by a friend’s 21st birthday party. It would be just like any of a hundred parties she had been to in the past two-and-a-half years at the University: loud music, lots of peo ple, cheap beer, hard liquor and maybe some pot. When Frier got to her buddy’s apartment on Kinsrow Avenue, the party was in full swing. “I walked in the door and there were all these people sitting around a table playing drinking games," she said. "There was music playing. It seemed like a normal party.” But then Frier noticed something strange. “People would just get up from the table and randomly go upstairs and come back down and sniff their noses," she said. At first, Frier didn’t pay much at tention. She considered the possibil ity of a fast-acting cold, but "they were really jittery and super-full of energy. [They had] super-dilated, wide eyes. [They were] bouncing off the walls.” Frier began putting the facts to gether and realized that “these peo ple were high out of their minds on cocaine,” she said. “I have never seen anyone on cocaine before,” she added, "but it was interesting be cause it was completely obvious they were high.” Frier’s description sounds as if it were lifted off any B-movie about 1983 - the year Frier and most of her friends turned three. Now it’s 2001, and" cocaine may be the new drug of choice among the social elite at the University. In the 1980s, cocaine was associ ated with wealth and success. Beau tiful actors with big cars and multi ple divorces routinely underwent treatment in posh clinics. This image contributed to Frier’s surprise at see ing her friends on cocaine: “Every thing I have ever associated with co caine has been with CEOs,” she said. “It puts you on this pedestal of un touchableness.” But by the 1990s, most white Americans associated cocaine use with urban minority groups that smoke crack; “white lines” were as sociated with the 1980s. But accord ing to statistics, law enforcement of ficials and students, cocaine did not disappear with Reaganomics, para chute pants and Vanilla Ice. According to the U.S. Department of Justice Drug Enforcement Admin istration, overall cocaine use has not actually increased over the last six years. However, the number of first M time users increased bv 63 percent from 1991 to 1998. A1995 study con ducted bvlhe DEA showed 74 percent of powder cocaine users were males between the ages of 18 and 25. If these statistics are accurate, then cocaine use is declining among people of every age group except those between the ages of 18 and 25 — the age group of most people who attend the Universi ty Jan Power, a programs specialist for the city of Eugene, said that 125 people under the age of 21 were ar rested between 1997 and 1999 for the possession or manufacture of co caine. While the numbers do not nec essarily indicate an increase or de crease in the actual use of cocaine, they offer concrete evidence of the drug’s presence among young adults in Eugene. Regardless of the consequences, more and more people continue to try cocaine. Jessica Smith is a soft-spoken 19 year-old sophomore at the Universi ty of Oregon. Smith used cocaine on a recreational basis during high school, but she said she doesn’t like being associated with the drug or the culture that surrounds it. Smith said she enjoyed using co caine because of the high. “It’s basi cally like being wired,” she said. “Like you’ve gone out and smoked tons of cigarettes. It is a very good feeling—very hyper, very wild.” Unfortunately, what goes up must Turn to Cocaine, page 5 UTSAV2001 features food, entertainment ■ With dances and traditional dishes, the festival will give visitors a taste of Indian and other cultures By Steve Ewing For the Emerald Students of the Indian Subcontinent will hold its third annual cultural night on Saturday. Similar to the Japan or China nights held earlier this year, the event will feature a dinner and enter tainment. But don’t call it “India Night,” because SIS includes participants from countries neighboring India and islands off its shore. The event is called UTSAV 2001, which comes from the Hindi word for “festival.” Previous UTSAVs have drawn between 400 and 500 people. A dinner of traditional Indian food will be served in the first part of the evening. Many parents of the student participants will be coming to prepare the traditional dishes in order to give them a home-cooked flavor. Previous UTSAVs have hired caterers from local Indian restaurants. “There is more to India than mild chicken curry,” said Aashim Tyagi, a pre-journalism major. Tyagi said he re alizes that the extent of most people’s exposure to Indian culture is the food. “There will be curry there,” he said, “but in our culture, a [whole] home cooked meal is a symbol of love and re spect.” The sentiment is echoed by other members of SIS. Pre-business major Ed win Prasae said, “I enjoy my culture and Turn to India, page 6 Candidates stand for renters' rights ■ASUO Executive candidates Eric Bailey and Jeff Oliver discuss their views on housing, diversity and student voice By Jeremy Lang Oregon Dally Emerald Presidential candidate Eric Bailey is an undeclared sophomore and the j vice president of the Student Senate. His running mate, Jeff Oliver, is a jun- ! ior political science major and the \ ASUO Housing Advocate. Q: What is your platform? 1 A: Renters’rights is our number one ( issue. We think Eugene definitely 1 needs a housing code. Most major 1 cities do. We think there are some 1 steps already being taken in the ASUO « office toward that, and we’d like to 1 continue that process and hopefully have it implemented with student say I — student voice needs to be included f in this — sometime next year. This is the first in a series of Q & A inter views with the candidates for ASUO Ex ecutive. One interview with each ticket will appear each day in the Emerald un til the primary election begins Feb. 26. Diversity — not just bring diversity o campus, but we have to foster that ;rowth when it gets here. We have to lave positions for people to be able to ipeak. We have to encourage them to lse that voice once they get here, sometimes diversity doesn’t only nean ethnic background and gender >ackground, but it also means politi ;al background too, and we feel the VSUO office doesn’t necessarily have he student voice totally represented here. It has a lot of one-sided issues, md it needs to be more diverse in the lolitical sense as well. Students need to feel safe on cam ms, but also when they come to and rom it. It’s a big issue especially for Turn to Bailey/Oliver, page 3 BAILEY OLIVER
