PIPE SALES HAVE STORE IN HOT SEAT

In 2004, the war on drugs targeted several smoke shops in the
Triangle, when federal agents raided them and seized smoking pipes.
Most of the shops that were raided went out of business afterward.

Buddha's Belly on Hillsborough Street across from N.C. State
University was resilient. It remained open despite authorities
seizing more than 640 pipes marketed for tobacco use but often used
for marijuana smoking. As a result of the raid, a criminal charge was
recently filed in federal court against the shop, and its owner has
been tight-lipped about how the case might affect the shop's future.

The charge against the shop and others like it resulted from
"Operation Pipecleaner," a series of raids to seize smoking
paraphernalia, which authorities have said encourages illegal drug use.

Last week, a federal prosecutor filed a charge in U.S. District Court
against Buddha's Belly alleging the store sold drug paraphernalia, a
felony. During the raids of stores in the Triangle, federal agents
seized additional items they define as drug paraphernalia, such as
rolling papers, bongs, and miniature spoons.

No arrests were made as a result the raids. Pipe sales were only a
small part of Buddha's Belly business. It also sells skateboards,
clothes and other merchandise.

The store's owner, James A. Long, Jr., could not be reached, and his
lawyer, Robert Hale, Jr., would not comment about the charge. A
business found guilty of criminal charges can be fined and placed on
probation, said Hart Miles, a Raleigh lawyer. The length of probation
is determined by federal sentencing guidelines, and federal law sets
the amount of the fine.

"Several options are available to punish the business to make sure
whatever activity that is unwanted is prohibited," Miles said. Miles
represents Have Mercy Merchandising Inc., which was charged with the
same crime on the same day as Buddha's Belly. The charges were filed
against both businesses July 23 by Assistant U.S. District Attorney
Barbara D. Kocher. Spotlight on stores Robin Zier, a spokeswoman in
Raleigh for the U.S. District Attorney's office, said that an
investigation of smoke shops in the area is continuing. Marijuana
advocate Allen St. Pierre, executive director of a NORML, a group
that seeks to legalize marijuana, is concerned about shop raids,
especially when federal authorities bring criminal charges against
those shops. Operation Pipecleaner was carried out by federal, state
and local law enforcement officers in response to a directive by
then-U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft.

"If the local folks don't enforce these laws," St. Pierre said, "it
seems rather ... [strange] for the federal government to be going after them."