DAYTONA BEACH HOPES TO END SALES OF 'DRUG PARAPHERNALIA'

DAYTONA BEACH -- Tourists Tom Coupe and Jennifer Sink laughed when they saw
water pipes often favored by drug users for sale in the windows of Atlantic
Avenue tourist shops.

"I was surprised, but not too surprised," said Coupe, who added that the
pipes can be purchased in his hometown of Carbondale, Ill. "I don't do
drugs, but I know what those pipes are for."

City officials hope to make the sale of such exotic pipes and accessories
considered drug paraphernalia disappear like a puff of smoke. They plan to
employ the same strategy the city has successfully used to crack down on
nudity in local adult entertainment businesses.

That strategy would make the sale or display of drug paraphernalia a
violation of a city ordinance. Instead of arresting the clerks on criminal
charges, the owners of the businesses would face fines for code violations.

"We're not interested in prosecuting individual clerks," Deputy City Clerk
Marie Hartman said Tuesday. "If we can go after stores and get compliance,
that will achieve our purpose."

City commissioners gave preliminary approval to the plan in a 6-0 vote
Wednesday. Commissioner George Burden was absent. Final action is expected
at the commission's meeting Dec. 19.

Beachside Merchants Association President Paul Politis supports the new
strategy as another step in shedding the "party 'till you puke" image in
Daytona Beach.

"It's another piece of the puzzle in trying to attract family tourists and
convention business, and even making the beachside more attractive to
locals," Politis said.

Owners or managers at four stores visited Wednesday were not available or
declined to comment. But a clerk at Sportwear USA on Seabreeze Boulevard
and Atlantic Avenue, who gave her name only as Stephanie, said the city has
already moved body piercing off the beachside and banned tattooing citywide.

"Now they want to take away the pipes," she said. "If they're (customers)
not going to buy them here, they'll just by them someplace else and someone
else will make the money."

Sportswear USA, like several other tourist gift stores offers a variety of
water pipes and small ceramic, glass and metal pipes.

Although the pipes fit the state definition of illegal drug paraphernalia,
stores continue offering the merchandise by stressing they're not for use
with illegal drugs.

"They're for tobacco use only," Stephanie said.

City Attorney Robert Brown said the proposed ordinance will rely on a state
law that certain items like bongs (water pipes) are designed only for use
with illegal drugs.