Bike Thefts and Drug and Alcohol Violations Have Risen Steadily On Campus and Around the Community Thefts, drugs and alcohol -- that's what campus crimes are made of. According to the Department of Public Safety crime statistics for 1999 through 2001, the most prominent violations in the University community are bike theft and drug and liquor law offenses. DPS reported a steady rise in bike thefts, from 123 in 1999 to 184 in 2001, with total thefts climbing from 419 in 1999 to 485 in 2001. The Eugene Police Department reported 727 bike thefts citywide in 2001, 12 percent of which were in the West University neighborhood. Due to the "cyclical nature" of bike thefts, DPS Associate Director Tom Hicks said the present statistics demonstrate a peak in the crime rate and, with any luck, a decline soon to come. [continues 561 words]
Community members spoke out Monday about a new city ordinance concerning marijuana possession Eugene and Springfield citizens opposing a new city ordinance aimed at increasing the fine for possession of less than an ounce of marijuana voiced their concerns Monday night before the Eugene City Council. The ordinance, which would increase the fine from $100 to $250, is designed to give more incentive for people to join a new, inexpensive diversion program that would cost about $90 for any offender. The current state diversion program costs between $600 and $900, according to Municipal Court Judge Wayne Allen. [continues 432 words]
Marijuana became illegal in the United States in 1937. The plant has been grown here since 1611, primarily for the hemp products made from the stalk of this hearty, naturally occurring weed. George Washington, raising support in France for the American Revolution, gave this excuse for cutting his visit short: "I wouldn't miss the hemp harvest in Mount Vernon for all the tea in China." Pot plants weren't magically discovered in some hippie's dorm room during the '60s, as popular culture would have us believe. [continues 538 words]
Your article on federal efforts to undermine Oregon's voter-approved medical marijuana law ("Search and Seizure," ODE, Nov. 8) underscored the need for a state distribution system free from federal intrusion. The first marijuana laws were enacted in response to Mexican migration during the early 1900s, despite opposition from the American Medical Association. White Americans did not even begin to smoke marijuana until a soon-to-be entrenched government bureaucracy began funding "reefer madness" propaganda. Dire warnings that marijuana inspires homicidal rages have been counterproductive at best. An estimated 38 percent of Americans have now smoked pot. The reefer madness myths have long been discredited, forcing the drug war gravy train to spend millions of tax dollars on politicized research, trying to find harm in a relatively harmless plant. [continues 145 words]
I strongly support veteran Leroy Stubblefield's right to use the plant cannabis (marijuana) for health reasons ("Search and Seizure," ODE, Nov. 8). It defies integrity and rationality to cage humans for using the plant cannabis, and to cage sick citizens using cannabis for relief of pain is vile, immoral and spiteful for a civilization in the year 2002. At the very minimum, North America must re-legalize cannabis, especially when you consider the worst side effects of cannabis are police inflicted. [continues 69 words]
Ordinarily, Leroy Stubblefield enjoys it when his friends stop by unannounced. As a 54-year-old Vietnam veteran, however, Stubblefield said he was not happy when a "friend" from the Drug Enforcement Agency stopped in without notice -- and without identifying himself -- and seized his state-authorized marijuana plants during a search of his Lebanon ranch in late September. "I try to lead a very simple life," he said. "It's an ultimate shock." On Sept. 23, during a state investigation of a potentially excessive number of legal plants on the premises, DEA agent Michael Spasaro took 12 plants from Stubblefield's 2.5 acre ranch, eight of which belonged to his two caregivers, fellow veterans and medical marijuana card holders Scott Russell, 46, and Clarence Vandehay, 48. Although the three men were in accordance with state law, which allows up to seven plants per person, Stubblefield said he would not have allowed the members of the Valley Interagency Narcotics Team (VALIANT) to perform the search had he known a federal agent -- enforcing federal laws -- was with them. Spasaro was unable to be reached for comment. [continues 653 words]
The use of medical marijuana has recently become newsworthy again in light of the Canadian government's decision to open a pot farm to grow a national supply of the narcotic plant for those deemed in medical need of it. Our neighbors to the north have decided that marijuana is a real benefit to those with various medical conditions and are therefore steaming full speed ahead with their plan to both grow and hand out the drug through a national system. This is not surprising from a country with an already lax view of the drug and will likely pave the way for more decriminalization of marijuana use in Canada. [continues 490 words]
