BONG HIT

Police Raid West Seattle Tobacco Shop

On Wednesday, May 22, five police officers in a Dodge Maxi Van descended on
West Seattle's Admiral Smokes shop.

Accusing storeowners Mike Miller and Todd Marsh with possession and sale of
drug paraphernalia, officers seized and carted off the store's stock of 273
hookahs, water pipes, glass pipes, metal pipes, and pipes disguised as
cigarettes. They have not been fined and no charges were filed, but the
back half of their tiny 26- by 16-foot shop is empty, while the front still
sports a range of cigars, cigarettes, and packaged tobacco.

Miller and Marsh are outraged. The two men, both in their late 30s, opened
the Admiral last September--a small shop located at the corner of
California and Admiral in West Seattle between a bakery and a shoe-repair shop.

Miller, a tall stout man with a shaved head, says he and his partner don't
sell the illegal "glass rose" crack pipes that have gotten other Seattle
business owners into trouble ["Crack Pipe Crack Down," Amy Jenniges, April
11], and they throw out anybody who asks for water pipes by illegal names.

But according to Police Operations Lieutenant Mike Nolan, selling any sort
of paraphernalia is illegal, and the Admiral's 13 signs--"Waterpipes are
for tobacco use only"--are no excuse.

Nolan says every shop in the area that continues to sell paraphernalia will
get its turn.

Marsh, a quiet former pool champ whose long black hair is slicked back,
isn't so sure. "I think we're being unfairly singled out," he says.

Trouble began at the Admiral on January 4, 2002, when Officer Willie Askew,
a member of the South Precinct Community Policing Team, first visited the
store following a complaint from an irate customer. Askew refused to
comment on this story.

Miller, who later discussed the complaint with the customer, says the
patron complained to police because Miller had refused to let him use the
bathroom.

However, according to Miller and Marsh, when Askew arrived, he was only
interested in drug paraphernalia.

"If someone wants to use [my products] for illegal purposes, they're not
telling me when they buy [them]," Miller says.

Since the bust, Miller says authorities continue to harass him. Raj
Veluppillai and Jim Martines from the Washington State Liquor Control Board
visited the shop, stating that they'd received a tip Miller was selling
untaxed tobacco. However, the agents found that the tobacco was on the up
and up.