ALDERMAN WANTS TO GANJA UP ON HEAD SHOPS BUT OWNERS
DOOBIEOUS

Like trying to swat mosquitoes with a hammer, there's bound to be
collateral damage if city council pushes ahead with an attempt to ban
crack pipes in Calgary.

Ban one pipe, and you ban them all -- that's the fear of the local
cannabis community, as city council debates the issue today.

That aldermen would consider prohibiting paraphernalia has Calgary
bong and pipe purveyors uptight -- they say politicians are meddling
in a perfectly legal business.

And they're right, technically.

But morally right? At least one politician, Ald. Ric McIver, says he
determined to shut down the business of supplying tools to drug users,
no matter what's being smoked.

"They can cry if they want to, and it may be legal, but it's not good
for the city. We owe it to our young people to try and stop this,"
said Ald. Ric McIver.

"Making drug paraphernalia available to young people is not serving
any higher purpose in society."

The recommendation to aldermen says city council should order a
crackdown using existing licensing laws.

If police connect narcotic use with a store -- say someone caught
smoking drugs with a pipe that can be traced to a retailer -- the city
can yank the store's business licence. For the retailer, it would mean
serious fines, or even a shut-down for repeat offences.

The issue was originally raised in a bid to punish downtown
convenience stores openly selling glass tubes, which are useful only
to crack smokers. But McIver says all paraphernalia shops should be
punished, and he wants the city to use every tool at its disposal to
make life miserable for suppliers.

He plans to push for an amendment to that effect, asking city
officials to draft a bylaw capable of smashing the paraphernalia trade.

"If we can't make it illegal, we can certainly make it difficult for
them," he said.

"And if regulating product sales is beyond the scope of a municipal
council, we need to lobby other levels of government for stronger laws."

It's a hazy issue, and not just because one side in the debate has a
habit of burning organic matter and inhaling the smoke though
elaborate glassware.

Of course, we're talking about tobacco -- because despite the plethora
of cannabis literature and pot-leafed merchandise scattered throughout
modern head shops, the pipes sold are officially meant for tobacco.

That's officially as in approved by Revenue Canada: the shops are
taxed the same way as
the local tobacconist who sells a tin full of Dutch cavendish.

And that's why the paraphernalia crackdown is going to be a ticklish
issue, one that could drag the City of Calgary into an expensive legal
battle with shops like the Hemporium and Next Level.

"If it results in charges, we'll fight them in court, and then we'll
go back to the city with anything we can get -- malicious prosecution,
damages, et cetera," said Tim Person, co-owner of the Hemporium.

The Criminal Code of Canada prohibits the sale of "instruments or
literature for illicit drug use," which explains why stores like the
Hemporium stick to the tobacco story.

But Person doesn't hide his pro-pot leanings either, and he says
McIver is trying to use bylaws to change ideals.

"Trying to legislate morality doesn't work," he said.

"No one under the age of 65 is going to believe a shop like mine
promotes drug use -- people have already made that decision long
before they come in here."

As much as he is in favour of legalized cannabis, Person is against
drugs like crack, and he says his shop will never sell anything that
would make smoking cocaine easier.

That's a stance echoed by Kent Iwaniuk, who works at The Next Level in
Forest Lawn.

He says blaming legal pipe sales for all drug problems is
unfair.

"If I go and buy a gun and shoot someone, they don't charge the store,
they charge the person," he said.

A four-month investigation saw police seizing 3,000 pipes from a
number of Calgary head shops last year, one of which closed
permanently after marijuana and hash oil was found onsite.

At the Hemporium, Person said a paraphernalia store's best defence is
to stay squeaky clean -- and he challenges the city to find him doing
something illegal.

"Instead of changing the law, they should just send undercover agents
around from time to time," he said.