TOWNS BRIDLE AT POT-SALES LIST

A Web site includes local municipalities as good places to buy
drugs. Local officials take issue.

It's easy to obtain some marijuana on the streets of Horsham, at
State and Main in Doylestown, strolling through Tyler State Park, or
shopping at Ardmore's Suburban Square, according to a Web site that
purports to be an international consumer's guide to finding pot.

WeBeHigh.com includes Philadelphia and eight suburban towns in its
worldwide list of places where visitors can do a little illegal trade.

But local police and residents say the Web site is just blowing
smoke - that its information is not reliable and its impact has been
negligible.

"This Web site allows anybody to post anything they want. I could
pick a community and write about it," said Horsham Police Capt. Joseph Repkoe.

Doylestown Police Lt. Michael Cummings doesn't believe the Web site
is contributing to the town's drug problems and said there had been
no additional drug activity since the borough was made aware of the
site in the summer.

"The problems aren't because of this Web site," Cummings said. "This
is nothing new to us."

But, Repkoe said, "the use of the Internet certainly has increased
drug sales in general. This expands borders now of marijuana use."

Repkoe said WeBeHigh.com is one of a growing number of Web sites
aimed at promoting illegal activity.

"I think increasingly it is becoming less unique. People are using
the Web to broadcast and brag about their exploits. With MySpace,
blogs, chat rooms and Web sites, there's no way of ever verifying
anything," Repkoe said.

Nir Shafrir, creator of WeBeHigh.com, said in a phone interview from
an address in Tel Aviv, Israel, that the site does not break any laws.

"There are no issues with police. We're doing nothing illegal,"
Shafrir said. "The idea was to familiarize people with the local
drug scene. We're not suggesting that anyone smoke dope; we're more
of an information source."

Shafrir said he and a colleague launched the site in September 2001
to benefit travelers like him who wanted to find marijuana when they
were away from home.

At first, the site consisted of 40 European cities, and until last
year, American cities had not been included. WeBeHigh.com now covers
more than 400 cities worldwide.

The site goes into detail about marijuana availability in Doylestown
and calls the central Bucks town a major drug hub in eastern Pennsylvania.

"On any night, especially on weekends, you can find [marijuana] by
asking most of the teenagers and younger adults there. Many of them
may have some already and be willing to sell," the Web site says.

Residents say the town is not a drug "hot spot," as the site claims.
But Doylestown's appearance on the site didn't shock them.

"This is not a new issue in our town," said Jona Franklin, 47. "I
don't think we're really that much of a mecca; however, there's
always been a presence of drugs."

She said the town's proximity to Philadelphia has kept the drug
culture alive in Doylestown.

"When I was a teenager, the center of town was a good place to buy
drugs. People went down to the city, and they brought stuff up
here," Franklin said. "That was going on then, it's going on now,
and probably will be 20 or 30 years from now."

Lt. Cummings said that the borough was taking steps to curb drug
trafficking by installing surveillance cameras at a few locations.
The cameras should be up and running in the next few weeks.

Other area municipalities listed in WeBeHigh.com are Haverford,
Lansdale, Norristown, West Chester, Yardley and Camden.

The site also suggests visits to local campuses - including Temple
University, Delaware Valley College, and Camden County Community
College - to find marijuana.

The site's West Chester page encourages visitors to approach local students.

Tom Reilly, a freshman at West Chester University, said the site
might attract the wrong kind of people to the school.

"West Chester is not really that big a place for drugs. This Web
site is kind of stupid. It's an easy way to get caught," Reilly said.

Temple University journalism professor Thomas Eveslage said that the
Web site, although providing information about illegal activity, is
protected speech.

"Just because someone has posted something online doesn't mean that
this is going to prompt and inspire people to break the law," he
said. "Just because people find it offensive, that's not, by itself,
a justification for punishment."

But Horsham's Capt. Repkoe said there is a risk associated with the
growing number of local communities being added to the site.

"There's a danger when young people find it. It glorifies the use of
drugs," he said.