cannabisnews.com: Conde's Music Festival Riddled With Drug Use





Conde's Music Festival Riddled With Drug Use
Posted by FoM on September 06, 1999 at 17:38:00 PT
Sheriff Says
Source: Oregon Live
HARRISBURG, Ore. (AP) -- Marijuana activist William Conde kicked off his three-day Rock & Reggae Revival, amid charges that the music festival was rampant with drug deals and people getting high. 
But for the thousands of fans who turned out Saturday, the festival was more memorable for the two dozen bands that performed, including a Saturday night gig by Creedence Clearwater Revisited. "We're having a wonderful time," said a woman who worked the night at Conde's office and would only identify herself as Greeta. "Creedence rocked the house. We are determined to enjoy ourselves." Having a good time at the concert was difficult, she said, because of the invasive police presence. Police outside the festival site were ticketing concert-goers for minor traffic offenses and were disrupting the scene inside by conducting nearly constant patrols, she said. Official numbers haven't been tallied, but an estimated total attendance Saturday through late Sunday afternoon was about 3,000, well below numbers Conde had earlier projected. Still, among those crowds were a disproportionate number of drug users and dealers, Sheriff Dave Burright said. "Unfortunately, there's still an awful amount of illegal activity going on in there," he said Sunday afternoon from just outside the festival grounds. "Undercover officers have seen widespread sale of drugs." A command post was established Saturday morning at a nearby home and deputies and Oregon State Police officers were ticketing traffic violators Saturday and Sunday on the streets outside the festival, Burright said. An undisclosed number of undercover officers were working inside the venue, with four to eight uniformed deputies openly circulating inside the gates much of the time. Uniformed officers have witnessed widespread drug use, he said. While he said many people were involved in drug activity, many were also peacefully enjoying the music. "There are also a lot of people who came down who were just curious or wanted to listen to the music," Burright said. Still, a potentially dangerous situation developed Saturday afternoon after undercover officers bought illegal psilocybin mushrooms from a man inside the festival, Burright said. "We sent uniformed officers in to arrest him and were confronted with a very, very tense situation," he said. Conde, his lawyer, Brian Michaels, and others confronted the officers as they were leading the suspect off the concert grounds. "Our concern was they would be inciting the crowd to violence," Burright said. But Conde's head of security came in, defused the situation and deputies were able to leave peacefully with the suspect. Isaac R. Borowitz, 22, of Lincoln, Neb., was arrested and charged with delivery and possession of a controlled substance. Police also arrested two men who allegedly were selling illegal drugs from a rental truck in the festival parking lot, Burright said. Eric Miles Smith, 20, and Jacob Alan Nozicka, 22, were arrested on charges of a controlled substance. "They had a regular drug store going, selling marijuana, psilocybin mushrooms and LSD," Burright said. The Associated Press09/06/99 4:50 PM Eastern©1999 Oregon Live LLC
Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help




Post Comment


Name: Optional Password: 
E-Mail: 
Subject: 
Comment: [Please refrain from using profanity in your message]
Link URL: 
Link Title: