METRO POLICE ZERO IN ON DRUG PARAPHERNALIA SALES

Since January, undercover Metro police officers have been visiting Nashville
convenience stores and buying fake roses in glass tubes - items commonly
used for smoking crack.

Yesterday the department put out the message that the markets need to stop
selling them or face criminal charges. During the two-month operation, 23
markets in town sold the implements to police.

Undercover officers would enter a market and specifically asked for a crack
pipe, Sgt. Buddy Rhett with the Crime Suppression Unit said yesterday.

Even when the clerks said they didn't sell ''crack pipes,'' they sold the
officers fake roses in glass tubes. They are commonly known to be used for
smoking crack, along with shreds from metal dish scrubbing pads known by the
brand name Chore Boy. The metal is used as a filter in the pipe.

While the roses are legal to sell and own, the officers were specifically
asking for drug paraphernalia. The fact the roses were being sold with Chore
Boy pads or shreds from them showed that the clerks knew what the intended
use was, Rhett said.

''If a car dealer said he couldn't sell you a car, but you drove off the
lot, did you buy a car?'' Rhett said.

Clerks selling pipes are charged with delivering drug paraphernalia, a
misdemeanor, police said.

The roses and scrubbing pads usually were kept behind the counter and had to
be requested, Rhett said. The rose, Chore Boy and a lighter often were sold
together for $3-$5.

Rhett praised three markets that refused to sell roses to officers who said
they wanted them for the purpose of smoking crack.

''We're not asking the markets to quit selling roses,'' he said. ''We're
asking them to quit selling roses to be used for crack pipes.''

Many of the glass tubes from the roses have been seized by police from drug
suspects.

The investigation was spurred by a citizen tip. The tipster overheard the
person in front of him in a convenience store buy a crack pipe and called
police.

For a list of the 23 markets, visit www.police.nashville.org and look under
''media releases.''