LH Press Library
Residents Irate Over Drug Paraphernalia Sales
Petition drive pressures stores to change policies
Lake Highlands People, by Bob Pittman
July 22, 2005
Residents, irate over the marketing of barely disguised drug paraphernalia, are working to ensure that local convenience stores and other retailers lose the ability to be a one-stop shop for drug abusers.
The Lake Highlands Area Improvement Association launched an anti-drug paraphernalia petition to pressure retailers and community leaders to enact policy changes making it illegal to sell items such as glass pipes and rolling papers.
Several hundred people already have signed the petition, said Steve Wakefield, association president. He said more petitions are being turned in daily, and organizers hope to have “several thousand” signatures by August.
"We’ve been a little bit complacent, a little bit asleep at the wheel, I guess you could say, about the types of drug- related items that are being sold in retail stores,” he said. “We’ve had enough and hope the petition causes store owners and management to give more thought to what they’re selling.”
Mr. Wakefield explained that the petitions call for retail stores — including liquor, tobacco and convenience stores — to stop selling items that can be considered drug paraphernalia.
He said some Dallas-Fort Worth area stores are offering a “disturbing product line” to customers and marketing directly to drug addicts by selling items that can be used to make homemade crack pipes, smoke marijuana, or abuse other drugs. The items are even “merchandised” at some stores by being grouped together, he explained.
In an even more alarming development, some stores package and sell virtual crack kits for a few dollars. These contain everything needed to smoke the drug, short of the crack itself. (See accompanying article, “Pipe Dreams.”)
The federal Drug Enforcement Agency defines drug paraphernalia as “any legitimate equipment, product, or material that is modified for making, using, or concealing illegal drugs such as cocaine, heroin, marijuana, and methamphetamine.
The following items have been singled out by LHAIA members as being of particular concern:
Small, open-ended glass tubes also known as “rose tubes” and “rosetta tubes.” Typically, they are 4 inches in length and about three- eighths of an inch in diameter. When offered for sale, they typically include a tiny artificial red, yellow or blue rose made of cloth and plastic. The blossom is discarded and the tube is used as a pipe to smoke crack.
Copper scrubbing pads used to make crude screens for holding crack rocks in place in pipes (one commonly used brand is called “Chore Boys”).
Miniature plastic bags about the size of a quarter coin that are used to hold crack rocks and other illicit drugs.
Flavored tobacco products (such as Swisher Sweets), flavored and unflavored cigars and cigarettes sold individually. These products can be taken apart; filters can be used for other drugs.
Rolling papers used to make marijuana cigarettes.
“These items can be found all over town; it’s not just Lake Highlands,” said Sgt. Al Sutton of the Dallas Police Department’s Narcotics Division.
He said that by selling the items, store owners and managers aren’t violating city ordinances because the argument could be made that the rose pipes are just a decorative novelty and the rolling papers are intended for use for hand- rolled tobacco.
Mr. Wakefield said LHAIA member already have approached several store owners and questioned why the items are being sold.
In some cases, they have received verbal assurances that stores will change their policies, but that’s not been the case in every situation.
“Some claim that it’s not illegal to sell the stuff,” he said.
“In other cases, they said that other stores are selling it, so why should they stop?
“The free enterprise system has proven to be successful, and it made America what it is today. This is the underbelly of free enterprise.”
Once the petitions have been circulated throughout Lake Highlands, Mr. Wakefield said, group members plan to take the signatures to store owners and managers and ask them to voluntarily stop selling the items the group considers to be drug paraphernalia.
Copies of the petition also will be submitted to Dallas city and police officials “in the hope that an ordinance of some kind might be developed to limit the sale of drug paraphernalia,” Mr. Wakefield
Reprinted with permission of Lake Highlands People
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