1980_10 The Daily Collegian October 1980

              THE DAILY COLLEGIAN
David Armstrong's American Journal
Battle rages in Great Dope War of 1980
the rugged terrain, spying on enemy territory and calling In cc
do strikes. No, it's not the Iraqi-Iranian desert. It's the forested
mountains of northern California, where the opening shots of The
Creat Dope War of 1900 are being fired.
Operation Sinsemilla employs federal agents, helicopters and air¬
planes and $140,000 In federal funds, in addition to $600,000 of state
money and hundreds of local police. Their object: to chop off the bll-
lion-dollar-a-year California marijuana industry at the roots by arrest¬
ing growers and destroying crops on the state's lush pot plantations.
The growers, most of them longhaired veterans of the back-to-the-
land movement, are themselves heavily armed, and many have itchy
trigger fingers. Their nervousness is understandable. Crowing sin¬
semilla—seedless female marijuana, some of the strongest in the
world—is their livelihood. The weed, which fetches up to $150 an
ounce, is grown in the rugged, rural country stretching north from San
Francisco to the Oregon state line. <"
The Creat Dope War flares every fall, when the sinsemilla is har¬
vested. This year, that conflict has escalated sharply. Operation Sin¬
semilla has expanded from four to 27 counties, and with expansion,
the stakes in this law enforcement boondoggle have risen for consum¬
ers, taxpayers and civil libertarians in all parts of the country.
Law enforcement officers are (you' II pardon the expression) high on
Operation Sinsemilla, claiming that arrests and confiscated crops are
way up from last year's hauls. Cordon Brownell of the National
Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws scoffs at that one,
countering that 'less than five percent' of what he calls 'the biggest
harvest in California history* is likely to be found.
It's too early to tell who's right. But if the raids are successful,
busted pot farmers will not be the only ones to pay. With a reduced
domestic supply of high-grade marijuana available, most of the right
stuff for American bongs and lungs would come from outside the
country-Columbia, Thailand, Mexico. This would raise the price of
high-quality grass, maybe even result In a shortage of smokable stuff.
It would also probably strengthen the hand of big-time smugglers and
the organized crime types attracted to the immense profits of Interna¬
tional dope trafficking. Thus, the raids may have the (presumably)
unintentional effect of hooking the small fry and letting the big ones
Operation Sinsemilla also creates serious civil liberties problems.
Drug police, for example, rely on aircraft to spot fields of illegal weed.
Not everyone in northern California grows marijuana commercially
and the prci(.>ect of armed police in whirlybirds peeking into their
backyards is not appealing to non-combatants. When the San Fran¬
cisco Chronicle polled its readers about whether pot plantations would
be raided. 73 percent of the 20,000 callers who responded said no.
According to some estimates, as many as 40 million Americans have
tried marijuana; many of them liked it and plan to continue smoking it.
No doubt marijuana has its drawbacks. Crass blackens the lungs as
any hot smoke will do, probably leads some people to wrap their can
around trees and unquestionably lowers one's tolerance for bad food
and wretched records. However, as many persons have pointed out,
tobacco and alcohol do pretty much the same things. Yet, except for
restrictions on sales to minors and drinking in certain public places,
those poisons are legally available Their use is acknowledged to be a
matter of personal choice
A similarly sensible policy toward marijuana would end The Creat
Dope War forever, hopefully before more tax dollars are spent and
anyone on either side is killed. Support for qualified legalization has
come from Joe Allen, the district attorney of Mendocino County, Calif¬
ornia, who is charged with prosecuting persons accused of growing
marijuana commercially—a felony under present laws.
 See Pope War page 1*
CONTACT LENSES
AND
EYEWEAR
i__"*\/=__—
QUALITY
1/ A  I    I fi-^* -■'"
VALUE
SERVICE
OPTOmOTTK.
\ity*ioneoriTor
MARGARET JENKINS DANCE|
COMPANY
8:15 p.m.
Fri. & Sat.
John Wright Theater
Students $2.00 at door
THE DAILY COLLEGIAN
InJheg!i__QY__
More Specials
By Bret Kofford
Come on everybody, lets skal One-
two-three ska, one*wo-three ska.
Why are we ska-lng? Because its the
new craze in England, and those
zanies always seem to catch a trend a
couple of years before we do.
Ska was originally popular back in
the early sixties, and has experienced
a tremendous revival in the last cou¬
ple of years among the youth of Brit¬
ain. It is a fast paced and fun dance
music, highlighted by tacky horns and
funky latin rhythms.
Ska spawned a more serious and
slower son called reggae that now
totally dominates the music of the
Caribbean. The Specials are one of
the top two or three bands in the ska
revival. With a disclike Mere Specials
they may rise above the rest of the ska
b°Mere Sped* Is a delightful
album. The Specials had threatened
to make a record of 'elevator music'
on this/their second vinyl effort. (The
Specials stated during their American
tour that they were fascinated by
•Musak.*) But we hear only the
slightest traces of that beautiful music
one hears while under the golden
This is an album of zippy ska tunes
with a purposely cheep sound to ren¬
der an early sixties feel. It works, as
does most everything else on Mere
Specials, which is an Improvement
over their Inconsistent, occasionally
irritating, but often brilliant debut
self (It's later than you think*. If you
don't sing along with this, you don't
sing along with nuttin' mon (Ska guys
say things like 'Nuttin' men*),
The Specials like to give the
Impression of being uneducated Brit¬
ish street boys, but as hard as they try
to hide It, their Intelligence shines
through, particularly on guitarlst Rod¬
dy Radiations 'Rat Race*. The chorus
goeslike-a-this:
-Working for the Rat Race
You know your wastl ng your time
Working for the rat race
you' re no friend of mine*
Other standout cuts are "Hey Little
Rich Girl,* 'Pearl's Cafe?,'and 'In¬
ternational Jet Set.* All the songs are
fun and all are nearly Impossible not
to dance to, no matter how anti-ska
The Specials have two singers, one
white and one Wack. The white guy,
Terry Hall, has a sweet voice and
sings most of the lead vocals, but it is
the heavily Jamaican accented Inter¬
ventions of Neville Staples that lend
an air of authenticity.
The Instrumentation Is led by guest
trombonist Rico Rodriguez, a veteran
session man from the early ska days.
Rico play*, a loose lipped, almost
punch-drunk trwnbone that couldn't
fit themuslcanY better.
The emphasis with the Specials is
on unadulterated fun. Sure, they're
gonna lecture us a little on politics,
but they'd be satisfied If we Just
■   eedthe  ' ' 	
THE SPECIALS
two things besides the smog brought
performance by the forty-tsl	
The Kinks, Ray Davies. Davies had
total control of the sell-out crowd
leading them like Hitler did the Cer-
man masses during the Third Reich.
This might seem like an exaggera¬
tion, but it really Isn't. The man could
have mads that crowd of 20,000 or so
he Is a g
and only led them to a great time.
Real Rock and Rollers never die. They
Then there Is the case of The Bsach
Boys. Driving down the Sunset (trip I
mw a billboard advertising *The
-teach Boys at Caesars Tehee*. The
Beach Boys?. At Caesar's Tahoe? h's
true. The Beach Boys have gone
Sp
are us ik e asparagus
The Outpost
By Margaret Heinan
ell, Tahoe, a
I always admin* Brian Wilson for
staying in bed for five years. It was a I
hell of a protest against society. But
money Is a very powerful hre, and ft
The Outpost, 1137 N. Chesnut
Ave., has cushioned chairs, dim light¬
ing, tablecloths, nice water glasses
and a menu that is dull but not cheap.
Luncheon is served In a semi-dark
wm which has little lights placed
ter the pictures so the stag with
over-sized antlers and the two horses
fighting can be seen to best advan-
The carpet had stagecoaches with
the words 'The Outpost* written be¬
neath them, and the glasses and-sil-
verware made a nice showing, but the
food was less than exceptional
Prices ranged from $2.75 for a ham
or turkey sandwich to $6.75 for an
eight-ounce top sirloin, New York or
fillet steak.
The $6. SO crab salad was attracti¬
vely garnished with sliced hard-boiled
eggs, asparagus spears, tomato and
pickle slices and olives but	
without crackers or a roll.
A luncheon steak and fries for $4.75
were tried and rated okay but nothing
spectacular.
The Outpost also features what It
terms luncheons on the run. The scal¬
lops luncheon came with split pea
soup, five scallops and an Ice cream
scoop size of mashed potatoes.
Drinks are served in small glasses |
with a large amount of Ice and a mini¬
mum of garnish. "
Although we carr* at the e^ erf the J
rn rum AY FILM TONIGHT
 e	
|3:30 In IA 101   7:00, 9:20 In CU Lounge '1.00 wtth CtUF ID    *_**>■ without iOj