SMOKE SHOPS WON'T FACE EXTRA SCRUTINY

City Council Decides Against Tobacco Paraphernalia Ordinance

The smoke has cleared in an argument over whether to crack down on
smoke shops in Davis that sell what some say is drug paraphernalia.

The Davis City Council decided earlier this month that the city
should not pursue a possible ordinance restricting tobacco-related
businesses. It was a 3-2 vote, with councilmembers Stephen Souza, Sue
Greenwald and Lamar Heystek opposed to moving forward.

The discussion was apparently prompted by the opening of Illusions, a
downtown gift shop that sells tobacco paraphernalia. Illusions is the
new incarnation of D-Zone Novelties, which just ended a run of over
four years at 140 B Street, and is operated by the same owners.

Mayor Pro Tem Don Saylor said he was concerned with businesses
selling "tobacco paraphernalia" obviously meant for drug use.

"When you describe this as tobacco paraphernalia, it's hard to get
real excited about it," Saylor said. "But when you look at the things
that have actually been sold at the store on Second and G, some of
the items match pretty carefully, pretty clearly with the items that
are listed in this description of drug paraphernalia."

Saylor pointed out containers that were designed as storage for
controlled substances, glass-blown carburetor pipes and a World War
II-era gas mask with a pipe protruding from the end as examples of
items being sold at Illusions that were probably illegal.

"There are some pipes that defy the imagination as being intended for
use with tobacco, very clearly," he said.

Davis Police Chief Landy Black said enforcing drug paraphernalia laws
is very difficult.

"An item by its appearance does not make it illegal. It's its usage
that makes it illegal," Black said. "Without expending a great deal
of time and resources to investigate the usage of that piece of
paraphernalia, we don't have a successful prosecution. Currently,
with our staffing as it is in Davis, that would fall at a very low
priority investigation for us, without additional resources."

Black said if someone made a complaint about a particular item,
police would investigate, especially if it was something like a
syringe, which has a singular use. Something like a hookah pipe,
however, has both legal and illegal potential uses. In order for
police to enforce drug paraphernalia laws with an item like that,
they would have to know what the intended use is, he said.

"It would require an undercover operation, for all intents and
purposes, for us to get the seller of the product to tell us what its
intended use is," he said. "If its intended use is to smoke some kind
of narcotic, then the sale of that item would be illegal."

Mayor Ruth Asmundson said she was concerned with the impact tobacco
paraphernalia stores have on community values.

"My issue is Davis is supposed to be a 'no-smoking community' in a
way, and to have the sale of tobacco and cigarettes in the downtown
is sort of contradicting the values of what we're trying to promote
in this community," Asmundson said.

Councilmember Stephen Souza said he was not interested in wasting the
council's time on the issue.

"I do not want to interject my morals into the individual legal
rights of others when their purchasing behavior is not affecting my
health or the health of others in our community," Souza said.

Souza said some in Davis are legally allowed to use marijuana for
medicinal purposes and said they have a legitimate need for
paraphernalia that doesn't harm their lungs in the same way a
marijuana cigarette would.

"Frankly, I think the harm comes to individuals in the downtown far
more from drinking alcohol, which is a legal substance," he said. "If
we want to attack something that is affecting the health of our
community, let us attack the consumption of alcohol that's taxing our
police department on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights."

In meetings with Souza and Greenwald, the Downtown Davis Business
Association said it was opposed to any new ordinances that could
hinder the success of businesses already struggling in a difficult recession.