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Newsflash:
Francea Schoen-Neespapar Rooai
U n iv e rs ity o f Oregon L ib ra ry
tu ra n e , Oregon 97403
-
As the Observer went to press we teemed that a prehminary vote by the Portland City Council
has made Corinto. Nicaragua. Portland's latest sister city. A final vote on the matter wiH take place
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Street teen
Census
Tommy
Hearns
Ira D.
Mumford
Volume XV, Number 24
April 10, 1965
25C Copy
PORTLAND OBSERVER
j VS
Two Sections
*» « »
Freebasing:
The cost of compulsion
by Lanita Duke
If It s Tuesday, thia must ba springl S taff photog
raphor, Richard J. Brown, tip toed through the
tulips for a glimpsa of glorious sun in Portland's park
blocks this week.
South African reforms debated
by Robert Lothian
A South Africa debate sponsored
by the W orld Affairs Council cov
ered all the bases Thursday night.
Calvin Van Pelt, former South A f
rican consul in Portland, painted the
apartheid regime in a positive light.
The government is moderating under
President P. W . Botha, he said, and
conditions for Blacks arc better in
South Africa than in other African
countries.
Van Pelt decried "agitators out to
destroy the country. . .to what pur
pose I don't kn o w ," and "the ex
tremely well-financed, well-publicized
campaign against South Africa in the
U .S .”
Reed College history professor
David G ro ff, an African history ex
pert, called for Black representation
in South A frica’s government as a so
lution to the current crisis.
“ The root o f the problem is power
and whether it will he shared with the
Black m ajority,’ ’ said G ro ff.
Bu> Black represeniaiion is not in
the works because ihc South African
white rulers do not want to give up
their power, he said.
Van Pelt alleged that Blacks end up
fighting each other in countries that
have achieved Black majority rule.
In Zimbabwe, “ it will end in the
extermination o f one or the other of
the tribes," he said. He hinted that
South Africa faced a similar situation
under Black majority rule.
" I f there were 80 million Blacks in
this country, would you vole to
change the laws?,” he asked the audi
ence.
G ro ff said that any moderation oc
curring in South Africa is not coming
out o f a change o f heart in the white
leadership, but from political pres-
SJd L tztk . David QroM. Calvin Van Palt at World Affaira Council da-
bata on South Africa.
(Photo: Richard J. Brownl
a.
sure from below.
‘ ‘ Power never yields without pres
sure," he said, quoting Frederick
Douglass, Black American leader of
the late 1800s.
"W e shouldn't make more o f a re
former out o f Botha than he is,” said
G ro ff. South Africa remains a police
slate in spite o f the reforms, he said.
" I t ’s very simple for the government
to put away those it doesn’t like.”
G ro ff said that reforms and m od
erating tendencies are fine as far as
they go, but they don’t go far enough.
The Sullivan Principles, for instance,
which are supposed to guarantee
equal employment and better wages
for Black employees o f U.S. firms in
South Africa, are voluntary and only
affect a tiny percentage o f Black
workers, he said.
Van Pell alluded to the Sullivan
Principles often as evidence o f prog
ress in South Africa. "They are very
significant," he said.
But the Sullivan Principles and
other minor reforms could actually
end up having a harmful effect by
becoming a smokescreen to hide the
true nature o f apartheid, according
to G ro ff.
“ By diverting our attention from
the true power relations in South A f
rica,” the Sullivan Principles “ might
harm the process o f Black empower
ment,” he said.
Van Pelt referred to the South
Africa divestment hill being consid
ered by the Oregon legislature. " I n
vestment is a fickle thing," he said
“ I f we destroy it, everybody loses.
W e’ve thrown out the baby with the
bath w ater."
(Pieaie turn to Page 9. (Olumn 1/
» .f.
.4 . . •
G R A S S R O O T N E W S , N .W . —
Freebasing, the smoking of cocaine,
totally captivates its users into a coun
ter culture where there are no rules
and into a mental and physical roller
coaster leaving them "based-out."
M arne Dawn Markegard, a psychi
atric nurse lor Comprehensive O p
tion for Drug Abusers, Inc. (CO DA ),
said icebasers arc the most difficult
clients to treat. “ Freebasers are into
immediate gratification and they
want therapy to be the same. The
coke is magic. Noi only do they feel
better, they leel wonderful And it
slays magical as long as ihey can a f
ford it. There is nothing we can give
a client that will lo p lh at rush."
Freebasers spend a great deal of
time and a tremendous amount of
money in search o f that first rush.
"W hen I was based out, the first hit
was like heaven opening in my mind.
Il was the best leel I had ever had It
lasts for a few minutes — then my
mental state quickly went to hell in a
handbasket," remembered a former
uyer.
All current and former freebasers
describe their cocaine intoxication as
an ultimate high. " I ’ll compare free-
basing to sex, except sex is cheaper.
You go to a party now, the girls don't
want to know if you have a car or a
job. They want to know, do you have
any coke."
The drug culture's
magazine,
“ High Times" called the Ireebase
high Ihc “ cerebral orgasm" and a
local user added. " It's ihc best in the
world and it’s also the worst."
In the search for this rush, basers
smoke up grams o f cocaine and hun
dreds and even thousands of dollars.
After they experience lhai first rush,
the compulsion replaces reason and
base “ binges" are the result. “ In one
binge I smoked up my car and house
note. I f I hadn't given my wife money
for food I would have based it up.
Whenever I think about all the money
I smoked up, I get a knot in my
throat I let the pipe take control.”
Freebasing is a treacherous ob
session. "Y o u just got to have it. I got
friends who pay the coke man before
they pay the Visa card ," one former
baser said. " I really wasn’t that into
the high. It was what it did to my de
pression. I said to myself, "Forget the
bills; let’s hide your problems and
buy some coke'."
Markegard added, "W hen you’re
hasing, your job doesn't matter. G o
ing to work is not thai important be
cause you arc missing days, because
you are so wired-up, binged or de
pressed that you can’t go in. Basers
start dealing with a lot o f criminal ac
tivity and change their peer group.
Fnendship and family are no longer im
portant. Freebasing becomes the
central focus in life. All you think
about is where the next hit is coming
fro m .” She said after the initial high,
basers hit low quickly. "Basers expe
rience a loss o f impulse control dur
ing this post-frechasc depression.
They do things without thinking. No
one in this d im e has a worse case of
the guilts than freebasers. They rob,
lie and steal to get money to base
up."
Among the myths associated with
cocaine abuse is the qualitative and
quantitive increase in sexual potency.
" T h a t’s not tru e," interjected a for
mer user. "Y o u might think about it,
but it’s all in your mind. Besides those
into basing aren’t into sex. They’re
into basing!"
Basers are restless, experience anx
iety, irritability, attention span changes,
paranoia and severe depression. Free-
basing erodes your pocketbook, fam
ily and personality. So, why are Port
landers freebasing? Clarkie, a 19-
year-old Black male, said, "Because
it’s a x il."
‘ ‘ I've got friends basing and that’s
all they do. They aren't into music or
girls or life. Their life is the pipe.
When I started to see my friends
change because o f free base, I left it
alone," he said.
There are horror stories involving
basers who are "sprung" — a state of
compulsion where the craving for the
drug is so strong that obtaining one
more hit becomes life’s only mindset.
In base houses and at after-hour
joints, basers reveal stories involving
(hern or their friends as Ihey do the
impossible io purchase the drug And
IV ri.U H o
vX
it's in the base houses where free-
base hits are sold like alcohol in a
nightclub.
“ I knew one man who offered
his wife to my man for a hit. Those
types o f things made me leave the pipe
alone,’’ a former baser recalled.
“ Whai about that dude who sold
his new car for $700 to hase-up?,"
another baser said.
At one lime, only dealers could
afford to freehase. But the increased
availability o f cocaine made it a f
fordable to all who can pay the cost
o f compulsion.
“ Not only do you base up your
money, job and family, hut a part of
you is gone. When that happens,
you wonder, 'W hy did I hase-up my
soul?’ "
’ ’' H T
(Photo: Richard J. Brown)
B.U.F. lauds victories
by ¡.Anna Duke
G R A S S R O O T N E W S , N .W . —
One hundred strong marched locally
in unison with 13 other cities across
the country in the fifth annual March
Against Racist Violence, Saturday.
April 6th.
Led by two human rights pioneers.
Rev. John Jackson and Ronnie Hern
don, marchers stepped in tune to
"Forw ard, Together — Backward,
Never."
Dedicating the march to the late
Rev Ira M um ford, Herndon told the
crowd their presence made all the
difference in the world. “ Last year at
this time we were saying, wouldn’t it
be nice if we got rid o f Frank Ivancie.
This year we're saying, we got rid of
Frank Ivancie.
" I a si year we were saying, wouldn't
it he good If C U B passed Now we’re
saying we got C U B passed."
Herndon told the crowd comprised
of all races and ages: " W e can make a
change in this city. Politicians used to
pass over Albina, but we have a high
er vote turnout than other precincts.
Now, everybody wants to come to
you and me.”
Special guest speaker was Lorenzo
Carlisle, an anti-apartheid worker in
the Bay area Right now there’s a
boycott against South African ships.
Bay area dockworkers refuse to un
load South African cargo.
"South Africa will be free because
people arc demanding to be tree,”
Carlisle said. He added the worst
thing South Africa could have done
was legalize trade unions, which they
did in 1979 under pressure. “ Trade
unions will teach the people to or
ganize, and once they are organized,
then freedom will com e."
NEA backs civil rights bill
W A S H IN G T O N , D C .
-C o n
gress was recently urged by the N a
tional Education Association to ap
prove bipartisan legislation designed
to restore civil rights protections for
minorities, women, the handicapped,
and older Americans.
"M a n y o f us had thought this na
tion had moved significantly away
from the clutches o f discrmination,
but instead we are disturbed to find
ourselves in the position o f fighting
old battles,” declared N E A President
M ary Hatwood Futrell.
Futrell commented on the Civil
Rights Restoration Act of 1985 —
legislation Congress is considering to
restore anti-discrimination statutes
that were weakened by a Supreme
»
• '« .• •
f »•
Court decision (Grove City v Belli
in 1984
Futrell noted that the 1985 civil
nghts legislation "does not broaden
the laws in any way” but merely re
stores those civil rights statutes ap
proved by Congress before Grove
City. She testified before a joint hear
ing of the House Education and I a -
bor Committee and the House Judi
ciary Subcommittee on Civil a id
Constitutional Rights.
Passage o f the measure, said the
N E A President, would ascertain that
federal dollars arc not used to en
courage or subsidize discrimination
barred by four major civil rights laws
enacted in the last 20 years.