Police Arrest Dozens of Grateful Dead Fans on Narcotics Charges

More than 60,000 rock fans, something less than a sellout crowd, flowed into Anaheim Stadium Sunday for the Bob Dylan-Grateful Dead concert, but for a while there was more activity in the parking lot than on the stage.

Police and private security guards were there in force, and drug arrests began early. By Sunday night, police said there had been “dozens” of arrests, mostly for alcohol and drug violations.

Anaheim Police Lt. Jack Parra said some of the arrests were for “possession of hallucinogenic drugs ranging from mushrooms to PCP and other such drugs.” Parra said all were booked into the Orange County Jail on charges of possession of a controlled substance.

“All those incapacitated for whatever reason were also arrested. Those found with small amounts of marijuana were cited and released,” he said.

A spokesman for a security firm working the concert said the use of those type of drugs is common at Grateful Dead concerts.

“This is traditionally unlike any other concerts,” said the spokesman, who declined to be identified. “We can handle people who use marijuana or cocaine--that’s no problem for us. It’s the people who take acid or mushrooms (psilocybin) like these people here who give us the problems.”

Several artisans who follow Grateful Dead concerts and sell their T-shirts, beads and other ‘60s paraphernalia to waiting fans were cited by police for not having sales permits.

Derry Calay, who had traveled from Oakland, was unhappy about it.

“The police came about 8 a.m. in plain clothes and told us we couldn’t sell anything or they would give us a ticket,” said Calay, who was with a group from Uhuru House in Oakland.

“We wanted to sell Polish sausages, homemade pies and cakes to help raise money for Uhuru House, which is a self-sufficiency center for Oakland blacks,” said Rhya Fogerty, who is also from Oakland.

Traditionally, vendors like Calay and Fogerty, who follow the Grateful Dead from concert to concert, have been allowed to sell their goods outside most concert sites on the West Coast.

“We had no problems in Long Beach, Irvine and Ventura, but suddenly we come to Anaheim and they clamp down on us. It’s really like a police state here,” said Craig Slost, 26, who drove down from Eugene, Ore., to sell beads at the concert.

Cited for Food Sales

Jill Balcer, 19, from Temecula said she was cited by Anaheim police after they photographed her allegedly selling food without a proper permit.

Balcer, who said she was unemployed, now faces fines of up to $1,500, “plus, I have to go to court in Orange County if I want to fight this. I don’t know what I’m going to do,” she said.

Parra, the Anaheim police spokesman, said Balcer and the other vendors were cited because they were in violation of municipal ordinances. He said anyone who wants to sell food or other wares in or outside the stadium must contract with the city to set up shop.

“They can’t just set up shop and sell their wares,” he said. “Another problem we have is that there is no way to tell the bootlegged vendors from the legitimate ones. We have to protect the clientele.”

Parra said that despite the arrests and the presence of illegal vendors, police officers at the stadium had very little trouble with rowdy concert-goers. He said only a few arrests were made after the concert began at 5 p.m.

Although the concert was not a sellout, there were a few who chose to listen from the outside. Two hours after the concert had begun, a crowd of more than 300 milled about outside the gates, listening to the music that spilled over the stadium walls.