For jailed Deadheads, what a long, strange trip it's been

Take only memories. Leave only footprints.

Fans of the (formerly Grateful) Dead know the mantra. Unfortunately, those fans arrested on various drug charges during concerts Monday and Tuesday at Rosemont's Allstate Arena took away memories of holding cells and suburban courtrooms and left behind hundreds, in some cases thousands, of dollars in bond money.

Most of 18 felony and misdemeanor arrests were for possession and possession with intent to deliver, said Sgt. Keith Kania of the Rosemont Police Department. Police also made three or four arrests for city ordinance violations.

"This is unusual," said Kania adding that concert-related arrests typically involve drunkenness and trespassing.

"We certainly don't have the number of felony-level arrests we had during the Dead concert," he said.

Safety procedures at the Allstate Arena vary depending on the event, Kania said. For some events, officers do visual searches of purses or backpacks. Other times they pat individuals down before they enter the arena, Kania said.

Based on the reputation of Dead fans and their experience policing Dead shows in the past, police knew what to expect. Additionally, they had intelligence from other venues indicating potential problems.

A steady stream of defendants in their 20s and 30s, several of whom sported concert T-shirts bearing the Dead logo and most of whom resided outside Illinois, appeared in Rolling Meadows bond court Wednesday and Thursday.

Most of them received bonds ranging from $20,000 to $30,000 for possession of contraband such as cannabis, LSD, heroin and Ecstasy. A 38-year-old Colorado man whose criminal background includes convictions for burglary and distribution of LSD received a $125,000 bond. A 34-year-old Indiana man charged with possession of 755 grams of psyclocibin received a $100,000 bond.

The fans were cooperative and nonconfrontational when police took them into custody, Kania said.