N.C. law enforcement seize drug-related items from stores

RALEIGH, N.C. - The federal government is going on the offensive against drug paraphernalia, seizing pipes, clips and other items from a half-dozen stores in eastern North Carolina.

Federal prosecutors said Monday the searches and seizures are the first in a new campaign designed to make it harder to find materials that could entice teenagers to begin smoking marijuana.

"The distribution of drug paraphernalia is a federal felony," U.S. Attorney Frank Whitney said at a news conference in Raleigh. "If we can cut down on the demand for drugs, it will make our jobs easier."

Federal, state and local agents participate in last Thursday's searches of four Wake County and two Wilmington businesses as part of "Operation Pipecleaner." They recovered decorative and brightly colored bongs, as well as "roach" clips and miniature spoons.

These kinds of items are defined in federal law as drug paraphernalia, and someone selling or trying to sell them can receive up to three years in prison, including fines and forfeiting the cited goods.

No charges have been filed against the owners or employees at the six stores, but criminal counts are possible. The investigation and Operation Pipecleaner are continuing, Whitney said.

Federal and local officials defended their campaign against retailers, who often have been allowed to operate despite the paraphernalia.

After years of continuing efforts to convict drug suppliers, Whitney said Washington asked that local U.S. attorney come up with ways to reduce the demand for drugs. The middle and western districts of North Carolina are focusing on methamphetamines, he said.

Marijuana is often labeled as a "gateway" drug because people who smoke pot are many times more likely to use heavier drugs such as heroin and cocaine, according to the Office of National Drug Control Policy.

In the past, much of the marijuana smoked in North Carolina was grown in-state. Now, more of the drug is coming aboard tractor-trailers from Mexico and Central America and contains higher amounts of marijuana's active chemical, THC.

"The marijuana of 2004 is not your parents' marijuana, if they experimented with it," Whitney said.

Keeping paraphernalia further away from high school or college students - some of the stores raided were next to North Carolina State University and UNC-Wilmington - should help discourage experimentation, the coordinator of Operation Pipecleaner said.

"The message is, 'The gateway is closed,'" Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul Newby said. "No more tickets will be sold."

In February 2003, federal authorities charged 55 people with trafficking in illegal drug paraphernalia in an investigation they said targeted the nation's biggest Internet distributors of bongs, crack pipes and other drug abuse gear. At the time, White House drug czar John Walters said, "This is a devastating blow to the drug paraphernalia business."

While Newby declined to discuss the specific stores in North Carolina that were searched, he said many outlets sell drug paraphernalia alongside skateboards, posters and clothing linked with the youth culture.

Agents seized items at Buddha's Belly stores in Raleigh and Wilmington; Snap Dragons and the Rock 'n' Roll Outlet in Raleigh; Rock 'n' Roll Village in Clayton; and Expressions in Wilmington.

Drew Skidmore, the co-owner of Expressions, said the store talked to local law enforcement to ensure that their sales inventory was legal in Wilmington. He was surprised by the federal search.

"If they didn't want to us sell the stuff, they could have just sent us a letter," Skidmore said. The items Expressions sells are intended solely for tobacco or legal herbs, he said, and the store also sells incense, T-shirts and sex items.

Skidmore questioned the point of singling out the six stores. "You can smoke illegal drugs out of any pipe in the world," he said. "You can smoke out of a Coke can or an apple."

Local police can charge paraphernalia vendors in state court, but there is no specific count against paraphernalia sales and any punishment often is a misdemeanor.

A person who identified himself as the manager at Buddha's Belly in Raleigh said agents removed items from about 20 percent of his store but declined further comment. Attempts to reach the other businesses were not successful.

Must be a lot of bongs and crack pipes to be having a "substantial effect" on the interstate commerce of the United States.

"Federal prosecutors said Monday the searches and seizures are the first in a new campaign designed to make it harder to find materials that could entice teenagers to begin smoking marijuana."

That's right. If it wasn't for all of those pipes and roach clips enticing our teens to smoke marijuana, none of them would be smoking it. That paraphernalia stuff is so enticing. Kids take one look at that stuff and they just turn into weed crazy zombies. They just...have...to...have...it.

"In the past, much of the marijuana smoked in North Carolina was grown in-state. Now, more of the drug is coming aboard tractor-trailers from Mexico and Central America and contains higher amounts of marijuana's active chemical, THC."

"The marijuana of 2004 is not your parents' marijuana, if they experimented with it," Whitney said.

Yea, that weed your mom and dad were smoking was bunk homegrown, nothing but hemp growing wild in a ditch somewhere left over from back when they were growing it for the war effort in WWII. All that stuff did was give them a headache, so naturally they smoked the crap out of it.

What a load of manure. That seedy Mexican she is talking about is low THC weed compared to the really strong stuff that's out there. It's only around 5% THC. It's not better than the Columbian Gold, Panama Red, Thai stick, and the other exotic stuff people could get in the 1970's if they new where to look. And the simple fact of the matter is that even if the best someone could find all those years ago was pot with 2.5% THC, that only means they had to smoke twice as much as people smoking 5% Mexican have to smoke today. They might have had to share two joints instead of one, but they got just as stoned, otherwise they wouldn't have smoked it. Who would smoke pot if it didn't do anything but give them a headache?

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