Illegal Items? / Drug Paraphernalia Sales are Legal When Used for Tobacco

Source from:  Sunday, October 19, 2008 By KRISTINE SHAWKEY Standard-Examiner staff 10/20/2008

A convenience store near several public schools has decided to stop selling legal items that can be used for illegal drugs. An anti-drug advocate hopes more stores follow the example set by Jesse Santh, who owns the Texaco gas/convenience store on 1900 West and 4400 South, within blocks of public elementary schools and churches. Although the law allows gas stations to sell pipes and fleurettes (glass pipes with a tiny artificial flower inside) for use with tobacco, police and some community members are concerned the main use of these items is for smoking methamphetamine or marijuana. Their concern grows when the store is on the walking route kids use for schools. When Police Chief Greg Whinham was informed of potential paraphernalia being sold in gas stations near public schools, he went to see what was available for purchase. "I went over there to that gas station and saw things, items consistent with what we find with individuals using drugs," Whinham said. "I saw a glass case right next to the cash register with two or three types of marijuana pipes. Behind the register on the back shelf there was a display of vases with the roses. They look very, very cute, they're a 'sweetheart gift.' The glass tubes had a bulb on the end of them with a small hole on the side, consistent with what we identify as a meth pipe and bong," Whinham said. According to Utah Drug Paraphernalia Act Title 58, Chapter 37a, store owners are allowed to sell these items for use with tobacco. Unless the owner sells the item knowing the customer will use it with illegal drugs, they are not doing anything wrong. "To get these items out of a store, I'd have to prove the owner actually knows they are selling to someone planning to smoke illegal drugs," Whinham said. "Basically, I have to prove the sale is unlawful. What we know to be happening and what we can prove are two different things." After Whinham explained to Santh the way those items can aid illegal drug use, he was adamant about not carrying the items any longer. "We are good people. We don't want to encourage kids (to use drugs)," Santh said. "I have a kid, too, that comes to the gas station. I don't want him to see them. I don't want to have those things." One local woman said stores shouldn't carry such items if society is sincere in eliminating illegal drug use. "We can no longer light up a cigarette in the open space of a park any more, but we are still permitted to buy and sell meth paraphernalia legally," said Joyce Andrews, of Sunset, who said members of her family have been destroyed by drug use. "I wonder, is it the tiny rose that the manufacturer inserts in the glass tube that makes them legal? "If people are going to smoke tobacco, I think they're going to smoke cigarettes, not go and buy a meth pipe and put tobacco in it," Andrews said. Whinham said high school resource officers have had complaints from parents about the sale of these items in the past, but there's not much that could be done about it. "I spoke with the owners and did some educating. I talked specifically about where we're finding those items, and the owners are determined not to be responsible for that in the community. "That's the approach this particular gas station is going to take. "Hopefully, it will improve circumstances so it's not so blatantly easy to transfer drug use into those items." Andrews has seen the impact of drug use and believes it's important to halt the sale of such items. "I think it comes down to a moral decision for the business order," She said. "If they're not making it illegal, store owners should have enough integrity to not sell the drug paraphernalia in their store. "I don't understand how we can be curing the drug crisis when we're selling paraphernalia in the stores, especially ones near to children," Andrews said. Enditem