DUPAGE PROSECUTORS FILE LAWSUIT TO STOP SO-CALLED 'HEAD SHOPS'

DuPage County prosecutors filed suit Thursday, claiming two alleged "head
shops" are selling drug paraphernalia.

The owners of the shops, in Downers Grove and Westmont, objected that
authorities are trying to infringe on their rights and their customers'
freedom.

On Nov. 12, police raided Sight & Sound at 663 N. Cass Ave. in Westmont,
and All American Sports Cards & Comics, also known as Alternative Universe,
at 4941 Main St., Downers Grove.

The suits seek a permanent injunction to stop the "head shops," as
prosecutors called them, from selling items often associated with marijuana
smoking such as water pipes, air masks, bongs, dugouts and one-hitters.

State's Attorney Joseph Birkett said his office acted on complaints from
the community.

"We don't sell drug paraphernalia," Sight & Sound owner Joseph Salamie
said. "We sell totally legal products, all for tobacco use and for (legal)
herbs."

Prosecutors said the All American Card Shop is violating a court order from
last year banning drug-smoking devices.

Elizabeth Wiechern, the card shop owner, said her products are used by
people smoking legal herbal blends, which need water pipes to cool their
harshness.

She said she does not use or advocate marijuana, and denied prosecutors'
accusations that she is promoting drug use to teenagers, noting that pipes
and rolling paper are available everywhere.

"If somebody wants to smoke pot," she said, "they can smoke it out of
anything in the world."