SMOKE DISTRACTS PEMBROKE FROM FIRE

PEMBROKE -- Last week's vote in Pembroke to ban the sale of water
pipes and cigarette paper is a fool's errand that only dupes people
into thinking they've struck a blow in the war on drug abuse.

If this is wise policy, maybe we should next consider pulling all the
straws readily available by the drink fountains at Burger King, or
the aluminum foil just sitting there on the shelves of Stop & Shop.
And we'll need locked tops on all trash bins to prevent anyone from
getting hold of an empty soda can.

Because all those items - and thousands more found everywhere from
Home Depot to 7-11 - can be used to smoke and snort illegal drugs.

Tobacco is a dangerous product that kills half a million people a year.

But it's still legal.

And as long as it's legal, preventing local merchants from selling
tobacco paraphernalia because it can be used in other ways is misguided.

As tempting as it may be, you can't go into a smoke shop and conclude
that the water pipe made of dark stained cherry wood is for tobacco
and the one with the psychedelic design is for marijuana.

There's already a state law that deals with people selling drug
paraphernalia. But it includes sensible provisions to protect
merchants who sell legal items that can be used in illegal ways.

Under Massachusetts law, a store owner can face jail time for selling
certain goods but only if prosecutors can prove "beyond a reasonable
doubt" that the owner knew they would be used in an illegal manner.

While many merchants in town will have to remove some merchandise
from their shelves, this primarily targets Karen Brennan Fontana,
owner of Brennan's Smoke Shop on Church Street, the only smoke shop in town.

For Fontana, this is just the latest attacks on her chain of smoke shops.

Several months ago, Wareham District Court Judge Thomas Barrett found
Fontana innocent of selling drug paraphernalia.

Police Chief Michael Ohrenberger said he's happy the ban passed. And
we can understand why anyone who deals with drug abuse would embrace
anything that seemingly chips away at the problem.

But when such an effort impinges on the livelihoods of innocent
people - especially when there's nothing to suggest the effort is
effective in fighting the problem - it's gone too far.