NOVELTY ITEM DOUBLES AS CRACK PIPE

DAYTONA BEACH -- Convenience stores are peddling a rose by another
name, and law enforcement says it's called a "crack pipe."

A handful of convenience stores along Ridgewood Avenue and
International Speedway Boulevard have been selling 4-inch glass tubes
with a plastic rose, the size of a pinky nail, tucked inside. The
rose, however, isn't going to the customer's sweetheart -- instead
the glass tube is being used as a crack pipe by drug users and sellers.

They are called "love roses" or "rose tubes," and they are not
illegal to sell here, police said. But, whether or not they know it,
store owners, managers, and clerks are selling items used to smoke crack.

"They may not be selling them the dope," said Sgt. James Newcomb of
the Daytona Beach police narcotics task force, "but they're giving
them the tools."

Newcomb bought several rose tubes from stores along Ridgewood Avenue
and International Speedway Boulevard earlier this month.

The rose tubes sell for about $3 and are meant as an impulse item --
a chintzy gift for a loved one. But often the items are tucked behind
the counter, and the only impulse driving people to buy these items
is to use as a portable crack pipe that can easily be pocketed. The
tubes are bought with a copper Chore Boy scouring pad used as a
filter when stuffed into the tube's tip.

"I don't see any commercial application," Newcomb said of the items,
which are sold across the country and outlawed in some places. "They
know exactly what it's being used for."

The situation is troublesome for police because to make an arrest,
officers must prove the store owners know the items are being used
for unlawful purposes, said Lt. Jesse Godfrey, who heads up Daytona
Beach police's narcotics team.

Store owners and managers selling love roses said they were surprised
to learn the notorious use for the novelty item.

"Everybody has it," said Sonny Bhavani, manager of the Texaco at the
corner of Martin Luther King Boulevard and International Speedway
Boulevard. "But if they are using it for that -- it's not good."

Some said they would stop selling the roses if the items were illegal.

"If it's not illegal, I cannot interfere with a customer's personal
life," said Vinny Rakesh, operator and soon-to-be-owner of the Hess
station at 300 N. Ridgewood Ave.

The glass tubes have been banned from sale in some cities and states
across the country. They're bought by the stores from mobile vendors;
the box says the tubes are made in China.

The owner of a Daytona Beach Texaco station, who asked not to be
identified because he fears reprisals, said he knows exactly what the
tubes are used for. He calls the rose tubes "crack pipes," and said
he stopped selling them about five years ago after they attracted
unsavory characters, and created a dangerous atmosphere for him and his staff.

He scoffed at the idea that the owners of the convenience stores
selling the rose tubes had no idea about the ulterior use of the items.

"If you are in this business," he said, "it would take you five
minutes to figure it out."

Rose tubes were bought by The Daytona Beach News-Journal last week at
four convenience stores in the heart of Daytona Beach's most
notorious drug areas.

Jeff Lenard, spokesman for the National Association of Convenience
Stores, said the rose tubes present a muddy situation.

"If you took away everything that can be used to make or take drugs,
you would be pulling a lot of things off the shelf," he said.

The bigger issue is stores that are one-stop shopping for crack kits,
Lenard said, selling precut scouring pad material with the rose tube,
and a lighter.

There is a precedent for holding the store owners responsible, said
ethics professor Ronald Hall, chairman of the Philosophy Department
at Stetson University. By selling items that teeter on the edge of
legality the store owners are neglecting their responsibility to the
community, he said.

Hall challenged the store owners to stop selling the items, although
it might cut into their profits.

"What we need is somebody to stand up and say they're not going to do
this," he said. "I think the community would admire it."